Decision of city police chief saves small-time offenders from MCOCA
MUMBAI: On January 14, a trader in Dahisar East was assaulted by a group of five people for allegedly refusing to pay ₹10,000 as ‘hafta’ or protection money to run his business. The next day, police arrested Panesh Bhoir, 21, a local resident, who was the seventh accused to be nabbed within 24 hours. Police on February 24 invoked charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), in the case, claiming that a gang headed by key accused Aakash Korde was harassing the local trading community for ‘hafta’.
However, Bhoir’s lawyer B J Shaikh said he had nothing to do with the crime. “Bhoir was just standing there. Footage from closed-circuit television shows only five people entered the trader’s office.”
Shaikh filed a bail plea on behalf of Bhoir before the sessions court at Dindoshi on January 29. “Before the plea came up for hearing on February 22, police told us about invoking the stringent MCOCA provisions in the case and we had to withdraw our plea.”
Police on February 22 sought custody extension of the seven offenders under the MCOCA.
Almost 54 days later, when police were supposed to file the chargesheet, the prosecution informed the court on April 13 that the city police commissioner had refused to grant sanction to prosecute the seven under the Act. The case was, therefore, transferred to the regular court.
“With the MCOCA charges dropped, we can file a fresh petition for bail. If we had had not to withdraw our earlier bail plea, Bhoir would have been out of jail by now,” Shaikh said.
The case involving Bhoir was one of many such petty crimes where provisions of the MCOCA were invoked.
However, the objective of bringing this Act into force in 1999 was to tackle the menace of organised crime. Police too were successful in dealing blows to gangs led by Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan, and Arun Gawli.
But in August 2012, the then Mumbai police commissioner, Satyapal Singh, instructed all the police stations to bring MCOCA charges in street crimes like chain snatchings. Singh is currently a Union minister.
Police then started using the penal sections of the Act against several small, localised gangs after obtaining provisional permission from their immediate superiors, much before the final sanction was accorded by the competent authority – commissioner of police.
As a result, first-time offenders involved in petty crimes suffered longer custody remands and had to stay in prison among hardcore criminals. It became difficult to get bail before police could file the chargesheet.
Further, once booked under the MCOCA, police get 30 days for custodial interrogation which otherwise is restricted to 14 days in the cases registered under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Also, police have 180 days to file the chargesheet, three times the period in regular IPC cases (60 days).
After Sanjay Pandey took over as the new city police commissioner in March 2022, he refused to grant sanction for prosecuting petty offenders under the MCOCA.
The result of this decision was quick. In the last two months, special courts in Mumbai have dropped MCOCA charges in 11 cases for want of prosecution sanction from the competent authority. These include cases of street crimes and cases involving local goons and even gangster Ejaz Lakdawala.
Pandey did not respond to calls and messages, seeking his comments.
In the trader assault case, the police had arrested one Manish Peddi. His lawyer H M Shetty, however, said Peddi had been falsely implicated. “He is an autorickshaw driver. He has nothing to do with the crime.” Shetty has now approached the sessions court at Dindoshi for bail.
What expert says
Former Bombay high court judge, justice Abhay Thipsay, who earlier also presided over a special MCOCA court, indirectly supported the stand taken by Pandey. He said, “It may be legally permissible to invoke the stringent provisions of the Act, but those should not be invoked in petty cases. Street crimes are basically cases of ordinary thefts and if police cannot tackle them, the MCOCA is not the solution.”
“The MCOCA was not intended for these crimes. Just because two-three people are involved in the commission of a crime, you cannot invoke the provisions which were meant to curtail the underworld. At that point of time, the provisions of this Act were used only against the dreaded criminals, as it was difficult to gather evidence against them,” Thipsay said.