It's not that he is going to destroy the country, Supreme Court said. (File)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to inform it about the kind of restrictions it wanted for activist Gautam Navlakha, who is incarcerated in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case, if he is placed under house arrest.
The Supreme Court asked Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the NIA, to seek instructions and inform it.
A bench of justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy said it will pass the order Thursday after hearing the ASG.
"He is a 70-year-old man. We don't know how long he will live. Certainly, he is going towards the inevitable. It's not that we are going to release him on bail. He is not going to enjoy the default bail which comrade Sudha (Bharadwaj) got. We are conscious that we have to tread carefully. We agree that house arrest as an alternative has to be used carefully," the court said.
"We are concerned about what restriction would you like to place. Place whatever restrictions. It's not that he is going to destroy the country. At least let him remain in house arrest for a few days. Let's try to work it out," the bench said.
At the outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mr Navlakha, said the medical reports show that there's no possibility of him being treated in jail.
"There's no way in the world you can get this kind of treatment/monitoring done in jail. He's had alarming weight loss. This kind of treatment is not possible in jail," Mr Sibal said.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the NIA, submitted that Mr Navlakha's health condition is not so bad that he be placed under house arrest.
He said Mr Navlakha's excess sodium level can be brought under control by drinking ample water.
"We will provide mattress and cot everything. We will allow him to bring home food also," he said.
Sibal asked why is the NIA keen to keep Mr Navlakha in jail when his health reports say otherwise.
The ASG replied it is difficult to monitor people in house arrest.
He said nothing will happen to him and Mr Navlakha be tested in jail itself.
Mr Sibal then remarked that nothing happened to Stan Swamy as well and he passed away.
Mr Swamy was an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case and died on while waiting for an interim bail on medical grounds.
Raju told the top court that people such as Mr Navlakha want to destroy the country.
"Their ideology is of that type. It is not that they are innocent people. They are persons involved in actual warfare," the ASG said.
The bench then remarked, "Do you want to know who is destroying this country? People who are corrupt. Every office you go into, what happens? Who takes action against the corrupt? We should be accused of being biased."
"We saw a video of people where people talk of crores of rupees to buy our so-called elected representatives. Unless we close our eyes. Are you saying they are not doing anything against our country? The point is that you don't defend them but they go on. They go on merrily. There are money bags which can help you get away," the bench observed.
The additional solicitor general said he was not defending the corrupt and added that action should be taken against them.
The top court asked Raju to seek instructions and apprise it on what conditions can be imposed on Mr Navlakha if the request of house arrest is allowed.
"At least for a short period let us see. You check and come back so that nothing happens contrary to the interest of our country. We are equally conscious of that. If he does anything, he will lose his freedom," the bench said.
"He has got a host of problems and it is not unnatural for somebody who is 70. At this age, you are bound to go into a state of disrepair. It is a machine," it said.
The additional solicitor general said Mr Navlakha has filed numerous applications to delay the trial. "It is a well-thought-off strategy. He has supported the guerilla movement which has resulted in the loss of life to our jawans. They are involved in anti-national movements. He is in touch with Kashmiri extremists," he said.
Mr Raju also claimed that Mr Navlakha is connected to the Maoist party and also meets the ISI general for recruitment.
Mr Sibal, however, refuted the submissions and said there is no evidence to support the allegations. The top court on September 29 had directed the Taloja jail superintendent to immediately shift Mr Navlakha to Mumbai's Jaslok hospital for treatment.
It had said receiving medical treatment is a fundamental right of a prisoner.
The activist appealed to the top court against the April 26 order of the Bombay High Court dismissing his plea for house arrest over apprehensions of lack of adequate medical and other basic facilities in Taloja jail near Mumbai where he is lodged.
On September 27, the top court had sought responses of the NIA and the state of Maharashtra to Mr Navlakha's plea that he be placed under house arrest instead of judicial custody in the Elgar Parishad case in which several Left leaning activists and intellectuals are in jail for alleged Maoist links.
The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017 which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.
The Pune police had claimed the conclave was organised by people with Maoist links. The NIA later took over the probe.
The high court had said Mr Navlakha's apprehensions about lack of medical aid and inadequate basic facilities at the Taloja prison, where he is currently lodged as an undertrial, were "ill-founded".
The top court had earlier granted bail to 82-year-old activist P Varavara Rao in the case.
Mr Navlakha had told the high court the Taloja prison is overcrowded, the toilets dirty and that his medical condition deteriorated during his incarceration there.
"The case of the petitioner does not fit in any of the criteria (provided for by SC). The apprehension of the petitioner that he will not be provided medical aid and his life will be miserable in unhygienic conditions and atmosphere of the prison seems to be ill-founded," the high court had said.
Mr Navlakha had approached the high court contending the Taloja prison had poor facilities. He had claimed he was denied a chair, a pair of slippers, his spectacles, and a PG Wodehouse book by the prison superintendent.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)