Gautam Navlakha arrest: Delhi High Court points out lapses

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday questioned the “legality of arrest” of rights activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha by the Maharashtra police pointing out lapses in following statutory procedures, including failure to produce translated documents carrying the grounds of arrest.

A Bench of Justices S. Muralidhar and Vinod Goel was also critical of the fact that a magistrate court here granted transit remand to transfer Mr. Navlakha to a Pune court without even bothering to understand the offence against him.

“Every minute a person remains in custody is a matter of concern,” the Bench said as it noted that the Maharashtra police’s failure to carry translated document of the grounds of arrest meant that Mr. Navlakha did not know why he was arrested.

The Bench asked how the magistrate court could have passed the transit remand order when the document produced by the Maharashtra police was in Marathi.

It wondered how the magisterial court could have “applied its mind” before issuing the transit remand order without the translated documents or going through the case diary.

Since the case involved the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the Bench said the magistrate court should be extra careful as the stringent provision of the Act makes it “almost impossible” for a person to get bail.

‘Sufficient material’

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi said that although the FIR did not name Mr. Navlakha or refer to his involvement in the offence for which the FIR was registered, there was “sufficient material which points to his involvement.”

The Bench expressed its displeasure that despite its Tuesday’s order to translate all the case documents from Marathi to English, the Maharashtra police failed to do so.

As the Bench was dictating its order, Mr. Lekhi informed that the Supreme Court had stayed the transit remand in all the cases including that of Mr. Navlakha, and directed them to be put under house arrest.

The Bench stopped dictating order and instructed the ASG to produce the apex court order before it on Thursday at 2.15 p.m., when the case will be further heard.

Mr. Navlakha was arrested from a residence in South Delhi’s Nehru Enclave by a Maharashtra police team from Pune on Tuesday. He was produced before a local court that allowed the police to take him and produce before a local court in Pune.