A two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justices Surya Kant and Justice Dipankar Datta, on Wednesday confirmed its June 3 order and also stayed the operation of the April 5 order of the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench. The HC had in its order allowed Gawli’s plea seeking a direction to the state government for his premature release on account of the 2006 remission policy.While declining to grant any interim relief to Gawli, the apex court posted the matter for further hearing to November 20.The SC’s order staying Gawli’s premature release from jail is a huge setback for the former underworld gangster who is battling heart disease and has a lung defect.Opposing the HC’s order, senior lawyer Raja Thakare, appearing for the Maharashtra government, argued before the Supreme Court that Gawli has over 46 cases, including around 10 cases of murder, against him.Opposing Gawli’s prematurely release from jail, Thakare cited that under the statute of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), convicts have to undergo imprisonment for at least 40 years for remission. This is as per the policy of 2015.Gawli, convicted and undergoing life imprisonment in the 2007 murder of Mumbai Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar, has been in jail for the last 17 years. He sought the benefits of the 2006 policy, clubbed with the fact that he was 72 years old and in ill health.
Source link
