Bhima-Koregaon Case: Delhi High Court ends house arrest of activist Gautam Navlakha

Gautam Navlakha, one of the five rights activists arrested in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima case, has been allowed to be freed by the Delhi High Court on Monday. 

Granting Navlakha the relief, the high court said the Supreme Court last week had given him the liberty to approach the appropriate forum within four weeks for further recourse, which he has availed. The Delhi HC also rejected the trial court's transit remand order which he had challenged before the matter was taken to the apex court.

The Supreme Court on Friday extended the house arrest of five rights activists and refused to constitute SIT investigation into their arrest. The five activists -- Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Navlakha — have been under house arrest since August 29.Historian Romila Thapar, economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, sociology professor Satish Deshpande and human rights lawyer Maja Daruwala, sought an independent probe into the arrests and the immediate release of the activists.Navlakha's detention has exceeded 24 hours which was "untenable", the high court said on Monday.

Navlakha was arrested from Delhi on August 28. The other four activists were arrested from different parts of the country.Prominent Telugu poet Rao was arrested on August 28 from Hyderabad, while activists Gonsalves and Ferreira were nabbed from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj from Faridabad in Haryana and civil liberties activist Navlakha from Delhi. 

(With PTI inputs)