Delhi HC frees Activist Gautam Navlakha from house arrest, says detention ‘untenable’
New Delhi, Oct 1: The Delhi High Court on Monday ordered the release of human rights activist Gautam Navlakha from house arrest, saying his detention was "untenable" under law.
A bench of justices S. Muralidhar and Vinod Goel also set aside a lower court order allowing the Maharashtra Police to take Navlakha to Pune.
The high court bench, however, said that the Maharashtra Police is free to begin fresh proceedings in the matter against Navlakha, as per legal provisions.
Navlakha was among the five rights activists arrested by the Maharashtra Police in a series of raids across the country on August 28 for their alleged links with a banned Maoist group.
Navlakha was arrested from his residence in south Delhi's Nehru Enclave and presented before a magistrate's court here, which allowed the police to present him before a court in Pune.
Subsequently, the high court directed the Maharashtra Police not to take Navlakha out of Delhi and keep him under house arrest until further orders.
The Supreme Court had on September 29 rejected a plea for immediate release of the five rights activists, held in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence case for alleged Maoist links.
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Will vacate one of two assembly seats won in 10 days: BJP''s Suvendu
Kolkata (PTI): BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur and secured Nandigram for three times in a row in the recent assembly polls, said on Wednesday that he would vacate one of the two constituencies within 10 days.
Adhikari also asserted that the party's central leadership would decide which constituency he would retain.
"I will vacate one seat within 10 days. The party will decide which one I retain. I will not forget my responsibility towards the people of Bhabanipur and Nandigram," he said.
Adhikari on Monday defeated Banerjee in Bhabanipur by over 15,000 votes, puncturing what was long seen as her safest political refuge and delivering a decisive psychological blow to the TMC, amid a sweeping BJP surge across West Bengal.
Addressing party workers and supporters in Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district, the BJP leader appealed to them not to take out victory processions immediately and instead maintain peace.
"Do not take out victory rallies now. Maintain peace and discipline. Celebrate after May 9, after taking permission," he told party workers.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya on Wednesday announced that the oath-taking ceremony of the new government will be held on May 9 at Brigade Parade Ground.
Referring to alleged attacks on BJP workers during the TMC regime, Adhikari said he would not forget the “atrocities" faced by them and assured them of taking appropriate action against perpetrators through legal processes.
"I was part of the 2011 ‘poribartan’ (change), and now I am part of the real change. I offer my gratitude to the people of Nandigram," Adhikari said.
He was referring to the TMC's victory in 2011 when the Mamata Banerjee party dismantled the 34-year Left Front regime in the state.
Adhikari offered prayers at a Hanuman statue in Nandigram and remembered the BJP workers, who had died in political violence.
"We will work in such a way that the BJP government in Bengal stays for 100 years," he said, expressing hope that the BJP’s vote share in the state would rise from the current 46 per cent to 60 per cent in future elections.
The BJP leader also assured residents of Nandigram of improved drinking water supply and better hospital and education infrastructure.
