Referring to civil rights campaigner Gautam Navlakha being denied his spectacles at Taloja Central Jail, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday said, “Humanity is most important. This is high time to conduct a workshop for prison authorities.”
A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and M.S. Karnik said,“Humanity is most important. Everything else will follow. Today we learnt about Gautam Navlakha’s spectacles. This is high time to conduct a workshop for prison authorities.”
On Monday, The Hindu reported that Mr. Navlakha’s partner Sahba Husain had alleged his spectacles were stolen on November 27 and he was not allowed to inform his family about this till November 30. He is nearing 70 years old and is almost blind without the spectacles as his power is more than 6.5, Ms. Husain had said. She said she had sent a pair of spectacles to the prison on December 3. However, they were returned on December 6.
To which the Bench said, “Can you deny all these small items? These are all humane considerations.”
The court, however, was hearing a criminal application filed by Mr. Navlakha’s co-accused Ramesh Gaichor and Sagar Gorkhe in the Bhima Koregaon case, challenging their arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Senior Advocate Mihir Desai representing the duo, who are members of the Kabir Kala Manch, a Pune-based group of artists, said they were being coerced by the NIA to give statements against other accused.
Mr. Desai argued that they were arrested only because they had refused to make statements before a magistrate against the other accused in the case. He submitted that they were being coerced by the NIA.
Mr. Desai also said the incident had occurred in Pune. However, the Central agency had the case transferred to Mumbai.
The court then asked Mr. Desai, “How many accused are there in the case?”
To which Mr. Desai replied, “A total of 16 have been arrested, three are declared absconding, two are above 75 years of age, and eight of them above 60 years.”
Mr. Gorkhe, 32, and Mr. Gaichor, 38, were arrested by the NIA on September 7, and are lodged at the Taloja Central Jail along with Father Stan Swamy, Vernon Gonsalves, Mahesh Raut and others.
They were co-organisers of the Elgar Parishad event under the ‘Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerana Abhiyan’ on December 31, 2017. They have been charged with Sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
NIA counsel Sandesh Patil sought time to reply. The next hearing is on December 21.
