Elgar Parishad case: May set wrong precedent: SC on Navlakha's house arrest

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, September 1

Expressing reservations over its earlier order allowing Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case accused Gautam Navlakha’s plea for house arrest, the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday said it might set a wrong precedent.

“Prima facie we have our reservations… but a lengthy order has been passed. Without going into the merits of the case, this might set a wrong precedent. You may have 100 per cent merit… not saying anything about that,” an apex court Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice JB Pardiwala said as it wondered if it could be done for one person.

The Bench directed the NIA to file an affidavit in four weeks informing it of the current medical condition of Navlakha, who has been under house arrest at a public library in Mumbai since November 2022. It also sought to know about the stage of the trial.

On November 10 last year, the top court had allowed Navlakha (70), who was then lodged in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja prison in connection with the case, to be placed under house arrest owing to his deteriorating health.