Can’t escape Rs 1.64 crore liability towards security expenses during house arrest, Supreme Court tells activist Gautam Navlakha

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 9

Noting that he himself had asked for house arrest, the Supreme Court on Tuesday told activist Gautam Navlakha that he can’t escape the liability of paying Rs 1.64 crore towards expenses incurred on his security during his house arrest in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.

Navlakha has been under house arrest at a public library in Mumbai since November 2022.

“If you have sought it, you have to pay… The liability, you know, you can’t escape because you asked for it (house arrest),” a Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice SVN Bhatti told Navlakha’s counsel.

The top court’s comments came after Additional Solicitor General SV Raju submitted on behalf of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that Rs 1.64 crore was due from Navlakha and that the accused must make the payment for the security provided to him during his house arrest.

Terming the order of house arrest as “unusual”, Raju said a large number of police personnel had to be deployed round-the-clock for the security of the accused during his house arrest.

Navlakha’s counsel said there was no difficulty in paying per se but the issue was with respect to calculation.

The Bench posted the matter for hearing on April 23.

As Raju said Navlakha had earlier made payments of over Rs 10 lakh for security arrangements but he was now avoiding making payments, Navlakha’s counsel said, “There is no question of avoiding.”

His counsel urged the Bench to hear NIA’s plea challenging the December 19, 2023 order of the Bombay High Court granting bail to Navlakha.

While granting him bail, the high court stayed its order for three weeks to enable NIA to challenge it before the Supreme Court.

On January 5, the top court had extended the stay imposed by the high court on the operation of its order granting bail to Navlakha.

“The issue of bail is slightly different. He had first said ‘put me in house arrest because I am not well’. Now he is hale and hearty, everything is okay,” he said.

“As long as you continue to have this facility, the figures are going to fly higher and higher. What we are today thinking is, instead of allowing it to touch the highest level, we will give one-week time,” the Bench told Navlakha’s counsel.

It said Navlakha’s counsel can see the calculation and tell the court about it.

While ordering his house arrest on November 10, 2022, the top court had directed Navlakha to deposit Rs 2.4 lakh towards the expenses to be borne by the state for deploying police personnel to effectively place him under house arrest. Later, it directed him to deposit another Rs 8 lakh as expenses towards his security.

On November 10, 2022, the top court had allowed Navlakha, 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.

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