Civil rights activist GautamNavlakha surrendered before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday here after the Supreme Court had rejected his plea seeking extension of time in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.
Navlakha, who has been accused under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon riots in 2018, was asked to surrender by the Supreme Court, they said.
The court on March 16 had directed him to surrender within three weeks but he had moved a plea seeking extension of time on the ground that going to jail during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is “virtually a death sentence”. Activist and journalist with Mumbai-based Economic and Political Weekly journal for years, Navlakha was one of the five activists arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case but was granted protection from arrest by the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court. “As I prepare to leave to surrender before the NIA Headquarters in Delhi, I am glad that Justices Arun Mishra and Indira Banerjee gave me another week of freedom when they passed the order on April 8. A week of freedom means a lot in my condition, even in the age of lockdown,” he said.