[dropcap]A[/dropcap]FTER Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, another judge of the Supreme Court has recused himself from hearing the plea filed by activist Gautam Navlakha, which seeks quashing of FIR against him in Bhima Koregaon case.
Justice BR Gavai on Tuesday recused himself from hearing a petition filed by Navlakha that challenged the Bombay High Court judgement that refused to quash the FIR registered against him by Pune police under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Indian Penal Code.
Navlakha’s appeal came up for hearing before a bench comprising justices NV Ramana, R Subhash Reddy and BR Gavai.
The bench said his plea would come up for hearing before another bench on October 3.
Earlier on Monday, CJI Gogoi while refusing to hear the petition had not cited any reason for the recusal.
Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishna, who was appearing for Navlakha, today contended before the court that the interim protection granted to Navlakha by the Bombay High Court is due to lapse and requested the court to take up the matter day after tomorrow.
On September 13, a two-judge bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justices Ranjit More and Dangre refused to quash the FIR registered against Navlakha and said that there was “prima facie material against him” referring to the sealed envelope submitted by the Additional Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai allegedly claiming to contain documents showing deep involvement of Navlakha in conspiring the violence during the Bhima-Koregoan commemoration in 2018.
The Pune police booked 65-year-old civil rights activist Navlakha and other activists under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Indian Penal Code.
The Bombay High Court while refusing to allow Navlakha’s plea had extended the protection from arrest for a period of three-week to enable him to approach the Supreme Court in an appeal against the High Court order.
