SC frowns upon Delhi HC for hearing Navlakha’s bail plea

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 19

The Supreme Court on Friday frowned upon the Delhi High Court for having entertained activist Gautam Navlakha’s bail plea.

“The High Court shouldn’t have heard it as we had ordered him to surrender,” a Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said.

The top court is seized of a National Investigation Agency (NIA) petition challenging a Delhi High Court order seeking records of judicial proceedings before a special court that ordered his shifting from Delhi’s Tihar Jail to a prison in Mumbai.

The High Court had pulled up NIA for shifting Navlakha to Mumbai when his plea was pending before it. Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi said the High Court’s order was without jurisdiction.

As Navlakha’s counsel complained that he didn’t have a copy of the NIA petition, the court asked the probe agency to supply him a copy in three days and posted the matter for further hearing on July 6.

The Bench, however, made it clear that its June 2 order staying the proceedings before the Delhi High Court in connection with Navlakha’s bail plea would continue.

The High Court had pulled up NIA for acting in “unseemly haste” in shifting Navlakha from Delhi to Mumbai while his interim bail plea was pending here.

Navlakha (67) was lodged in Tihar Jail. He was taken to Mumbai by train on May 26.

Apex court refuses to stay Sharjeel Imam’s prosecution

The SC on Friday refused to stay the prosecution of JNU student Sharjeel Imam in hate speech and sedition cases registered against him in five states for his alleged divisive and anti-India utterances during anti-CAA protests.