HC questions Maha police on Navlakha's arrest, says every minute of custody a matter of concern

The Delhi High Court today questioned the legality of the Maharashtra Police's decision to arrest rights activist Gautam Navlakha and the transit remand order to take him to a Pune court in connection with a case relating to the Bhima-Koregaon violence of last year.

However, after the Supreme Court directed that Navlakha and four other activists would be kept under house arrest till September 6, the high court said it would pass any direction only after going through the top court's order tomorrow.

"Every minute of a person put into custody is a matter of concern," a high court bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel observed, while questioning the Maharashtra Police for not providing all documents, translated from Marathi, to Navlakha, who was arrested for alleged unlawful activities.

The high court said it "will examine the legality" of the state police's action to arrest Navlakha and the transit remand order passed by a magisterial court here.

But the proceedings took a turn when the bench was in the middle of dictating the order and was informed by the Maharashtra Police counsel that the Supreme Court has stayed the transit remand orders of all the five arrested activists, including Navlakha, and directed that all of them would be kept under house arrest till September 6.

The high court posted the matter for tomorrow afternoon, saying it will pass a direction only after going through the Supreme Court order.

Navlakha's counsel maintained that they have not approached the apex court and the order would not be applicable on him.

The Maharashtra Police wanted to arrest Navlakha and take him to Pune in connection with an FIR lodged there following an event -- 'Elgaar Parishad' (conclave) -- held on December 31 last year that had triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

During over one-and-a half-hour long hearing, the high court was informed by advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Navlakha, that despite the court order, they have not been provided with complete translated documents by the Maharashtra Police.

The bench questioned the legality of the transit order, saying it was apparent that the magistrate could not have applied its mind.

If the state police could not complete translation of Marathi documents since yesterday, how could the trial court pass the transit remand order within a few minutes, it said, adding "the practical issue is, if the court could not understand what is there in the documents, how could the remand order be passed."
The bench also asked whether it was mandatory that every official or legal document in Maharashtra has to be in Marathi. "When you go to another state for arresting someone, you undertake the risk of going to another state where people do not under your language. The court has to be satisfied that the case is made out."