Maha: Court denies default bail to MCOCA accused

The Thane district court has rejected default bail to 16 persons, including a man and his two sons, arrested on the charge of attempt to murder and Arms Act and slapped with the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes (MCOC) Act.

Special court judge Amit Shete noted the applicants do not have any indefeasible right of bail.

The copy of the order passed on March 6, was made available on Monday.

The accused had allegedly attacked a man on November 13, 2022, at Ambernath in Thane district of Maharashtra in a bid to prevent him from contesting the elections for the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation.

Lawyers representing the applicants requested default bail saying the chargesheet had already been filed. Special Public Prosecutor Vinit A Kulkarni opposed the application, saying the accused do not deserve bail as the prosecution had followed all requisite procedures to file a chargesheet in the stipulated period.

”The issue involved is regarding the counting of the first day of production or not was only for consideration. As noted above, the Hon’ble apex court in the case of Kapil Wadhwan made a reference to the larger bench and the same is still pending. At the same time, the apex court granted liberty to courts in India to apply the law as per their understanding. ”Thus by excluding the first day of remand, the prosecution rightly filed the chargesheet within the extended period, and thus these applicants are not entitled or acquired any indefeasible right of bail,” the judge stated.