The Supreme Court on Thursday, 10 November, allowed activist Gautam Navlakha, accused in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, to be shifted to house arrest from jail for a month.
What now? The apex court order granting relief to the 73-year-old due to his ailing health, is an interim one and will be reviewed again after a month.
He will be moved to a house in Bombay within 48 hours, where he will be staying with his partner Sabha Hussain.
The house will be screened prior to that. The house arrest will also be subject to certain conditions, the top court said.
The police has been permitted to search and inspect the residence, if needed in its evaluation, to ensure that Navlakha does not misuse the house arrest.
Notably, the court, according to LiveLaw said:
"We make it clear that such searches should not be abused...should not be a ruse to harass the petitioner."
But why house arrest? Navlakha had said that he was suffering from skin allergies, dental issues and wanted to undergo a colonoscopy for suspected cancer.
He had said that there were not enough facilities in prison to be able to adequately deal with his ailing health.
How did this reach the Supreme Court? Navlakha had approached the top court after the Bombay High Court had rejected his petition seeking house arrest on 26 April.