The Bombay HC has directed the special court to decide on the application filed by Mubin Kadar Shaikh, an accused in the 2008 Indian Mujahideen (IM) case where he is accused of being a member of the banned terror outfit, challenging the application of stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case, before framing charges.
A division bench of justices Sadhana Jadhav and Milind Jadhav, on Wednesday, asked the special court to decide Shaikh’s application challenging MCOCA observing that the “same should have been decided by the trial court before proceeding to frame the charges”.
The judges further observed that the special court could not have disposed of Shaikh’s application as ‘not surviving’ subsequent to the framing of charges “when a valuable right is accrued upon the accused” under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.
In 2008, the Mumbai police arrested Shaikh and several others for allegedly being members of the IM media cell. The prosecution has claimed that emails were sent to media organizations in August 2008 claiming responsibility for a series of blasts at Ahmedabad in Gujarat in 2008, in which more than 50 people were killed and several others injured.
The HC was hearing an appeal filed by Shaikh challenging the April 2019 order of the special court dismissing his application against the invocation of MCOCA. Since the special court framed charges in the case, Shaikh filed another appeal challenging the framing of charges too.
His appeals filed through advocate Mubin Solkar claimed that pending hearing in their applications against MCOCA, the special court framed charges against them in the case. The special court then rejected the applications observing that the same didn’t “survive”.
The HC, while setting aside the order of the special court, observed that since the application (before the special court) was pending and remained unheard, the accused persons' "valuable right was jeopardized".
The HC has asked the accused to file a fresh application for quashing of charges under the MCOCA within four weeks and the trial court has been asked to decide the same within four months after the prosecution files its reply.
Shaikh and the other accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy and waging war against the nation, under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, MCOCA, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act and the Explosives Act.
On July 26, 2008, around 20 bombs exploded within an hour across residential areas, market places, and public transport in Ahmedabad, killing 56 people and injuring several others.
In February this year, a special court in Ahmedabad sentenced 38 convicts to death in the case and 11 other convicts to life imprisonment.
