Activist's Repeated Pleas to Relocate Denied by Mumbai Court

On August 7, 2025, a Special NIA Court in Mumbai dismissed activist Gautam Navlakha's application seeking permission to travel to Delhi for 45 days. The court sharply criticized the repeated nature of such requests, calling it a "deliberate attempt to circumvent judicial restrictions."

Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, had sought leave to visit Delhi between July 15 and August 30, citing personal grounds such as his 86-year-old sister's deteriorating health, a reunion with his partner's family, and medical check-ups. However, the court noted that a similar request had been granted in November 2024 due to serious grounds, but Navlakha's subsequent plea to permanently relocate to Delhi had already been denied on June 19, 2025.

The court held that Navlakha's repeated applications on the same grounds appeared to be a calculated effort to achieve indirectly what had been denied directly. "Now, perhaps to give go-by to the intention and directions of the High Court... Navlakha ingeniously has found out the trick of moving such application after application with the same prayer on the same grounds to facilitate him to reside at Delhi. It is not at all expected," the order stated.

Although the court refrained from imposing costs on Navlakha, the judge made it clear that such tactics were unacceptable, noting that "the thing which you cannot do directly, cannot do indirectly as well."