Bhima Koregaon: Bombay HC directs Gautam Navlakha to approach Special Court for Anticipatory Bail

The Bombay High Court directed activist Gautam Navlakha, accused in Bhima Koregaon incident to approach Pune Special Court for anticipatory bail and also directed the lower court to dispose of the application in an expedited manner..In doing so, the Court further directed Pune Police to avoid seeking adjournments while matter is being heard by the Pune Court..The Supreme Court on October 15 extended the interim protection from arrest granted to activist Gautam Navlakha by four weeks. The protection expires on November 12, submitted Pune Police..The Apex Court had granted liberty to accused Navlakha approach the concerned Court to seek pre-arrest or regular bail..A Single Bench of Justice P D Naik was hearing an anticipatory bail application (ABA) of Navlakha, who had moved before the High Court seeking to consider his plea as a special case under Section 438 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Section 438 of the CrPC empowers High Court to grant anticipatory bail to a person apprehending an arrest..Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry informed the Court that following October 15 order of the Supreme Court, Navlakha had approached the Sessions Court in Pune..However, Chaudhry expressed an apprehension that the Pune Court would not hear an application before November 12, when interim protection against Navlakha’s arrest expires. Therefore, a plea before the High Court has been moved, submitted Chaudhry..Chaudhry went on to argue that under Section 438 of CrPC, there was no bar on accused Navlakha from approaching the High Court while the matter was pending in the Special Court..However, Special Prosecutor Aruna Pai, appearing for Pune Police opposed the application and argued that apprehensions of delay raised by Navlakha were unfounded and the prosecution would not seek adjournments during the hearing of bail application by Special Court..Pai further submitted that the State would cooperate with the trial court and file a reply as soon as the application is heard and ensure that an order could be passed before November 12..After perusing submissions made by applicant and prosecution, Justice PD Naik allowed Navlakha to withdraw his anticipatory bail application and gave him liberty to approach the lower Court..While disposing of the application, the Court, however, refused to grant further extension from arrest to Navlakha beyond the period for which the interim protection has been granted by the Apex Court. However, the Court kept an issue of maintainability of Section 438 of CrPC open,.Earlier, in a setback to Navlakha, the Bombay High Court on September 13, had turned down his plea seeking to quash the First Information Report (FIR) filed against him by the Pune Police in the Bhima-Koregaon case..Thereafter, on October 4, the Supreme Court extended the interim protection granted to Gautam Navlakha till October 15. Navlakha had moved the Supreme Court seeking the quashing of the FIR against him..Gautam Navlakha and four other activists were implicated after an Elgar Parishad meeting held on December 31, 2017, allegedly provoked violence at the Koregaon-Bhima village in Pune the next day..Navlakha was booked under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Sections 121, 121 (a), and 124 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), amounting to waging a war against the State, conspiring to commit certain offences against the State, and sedition..[Read Order]