Human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, accused in the Bhima Koregaon UAPA case, who is presently in house arrest, Monday sought the permission of the Supreme Court to receive a call from his daughter living in Spain.
The Senior Advocate Nithya Ramakrishnan who appeared for Navlakha, apprised a Bench comprising Justice KM Joseph and Justice BV Nagarathna, that the top court had permitted Navalakha to make one call per day from NIA’s phone. However, he is not permitted to make international calls. Therefore, an order is being sought from the Bench to direct the National Investigation Agency to permit Navalakha to receive an international call from his daughter, Live Law reported.
The NIA asked Navlakha’s lawyer to file an application in this regard. Navlakha agreed to provide all the requisite information to the NIA including the number from which the call is to be received for NIA’s consideration.
At the request of NIA, the matter has been adjourned and would be taken up next on 17 February, 2023, legal website reported.
On 10 November last year, the apex court in an interim order permitted Navlakha to be placed under house arrest for a period of one month considering his health condition and old age. The apex court had imposed several conditions on Navlakha including he shall not use any mobile phone, laptop, communication device or gadget. He shall use the phone to be provided by police personnel on duty. He will be able to use the phone once a day for 10 minutes in the presence of the police.
Navlakha, one of the several human rights defenders in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been booked under draconian UAPA for an alleged conspiracy to topple the government.
