‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling

More than five years after he was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, journalist and activist Gautam Navlakha was finally granted bail by the Bombay High Court on Tuesday. However, he is unlikely to walk out of detention soon.

Another person accused in the case, activist Mahesh Raut, was granted bail by the High Court in September. Nearly four months later, he is still in prison.

In both instances, while granting bail, the High Court simultaneously stayed its orders to allow the National Investigation Agency to file appeals before the Supreme Court.

The stay is presumably because the charges against Raut and Navlakha are serious. They are among 16 academicians, activists and lawyers charged under India’s stringent anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for their alleged role in instigating caste violence at Bhima Koregaon near Pune in January 2018.

They have also been accused of links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and of conspiring to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, the Supreme Court noted earlier this year that the National Investigation Agency’s primary evidence, a batch of letters, were of “weak probative value or quality”. This rationale also finds mention in the bail orders secured by Raut and Navlakha. A digital forensics firm, Arsenal Consulting, concluded that...

Read more