No evidence to show Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha was involved in terrorist act: Bombay High Court

There is no prima facie evidence to show that activist Gautam Navlakha was involved in any terrorist act under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the Bombay High Court observed while granting him bail in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018. [Gautam Navlakha v. National Investigation Agency & Ors.].A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and SG Dige said that the evidence on record indicated that Navlakha can at the most be said to have been a member of the banned CPI (Maoist) and therefore, it would only attract offences under Sections 13 (unlawful activities) and 38 (membership of terrorist organisation) of UAPA.There is no evidence to prima facie draw a conclusion that Navlakha committed any terrorist act under Section 15 of UAPA, the Court said.“In the present case, the incriminating material as adverted herein above does not in any manner prima facie leads to draw an inference that, Appellant has committed or indulged in a ‘terrorist act’ as contemplated under Section 15 of UAPA. According to us, the record prima facie indicates that, it was at the most the intention of the Appellant to commit the alleged crime and not more than it. The said intention has not been further transformed into preparation or attempt to commit a terrorist act, to attract Section 15 of the UAPA”, the court noted.The division bench underscored that the record at the most showed the intention to commit the alleged crime and not the translation of the same into actual preparation or commission of the crime.There is no material on record to indicate that that the accusation against Navlakha under Sections 16 (punishment for terrorist act), 17 (Punishment for raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (punishment for conspiracy), 20 and 39 of UAPA are prima facie true, the Court further said..Navlakha was granted bail by the High Court on December 19.The bench found no reasonable grounds to believe the accusation against Navlakha was prima facie true. It also opined that Navlakha was entitled to have parity with Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira and Mahesh Raut..The Court further observed that the possibility of concluding the trial soon was bleak.“Navlakha is in pre-trial incarceration for more than three years and eight months. The charge sheet consists of about 20,000 pages in 54 volumes and the prosecution has cited 370 witnesses in it. The trial court has submitted a report dated September 18, 2022, stating that it will require more than a year to frame the charge. As a matter of fact, to date, the trial Court has not framed the charge. The possibility of a trial of the Appellant being concluded in the near future is very bleak”, the court said in the 3-page order..[Read order]