The National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) decision to drop charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case has raised a few eyebrows.
The investigation led by the late Hemant Karkare was trashed by the NIA, which raised questions on the applicability of the MCOCA. The NIA’s primary contention: there was haste in filing of the charge sheet against key accused Rakesh Dhawade, and the levelling of charges under the MCOCA. The NIA’s charge sheet, however, does not give any reason for dropping the charges. Dhawade was arrested in the Malegaon blasts case and later also booked for involvement in the Parbhani and Jalna blasts in 2003 and 2004.
Explaining the circumstances for applying the stringent law, D. Sivanandan, former commissioner of police, said, “The MCOCA is applied only in terms of organised crime, where there is a gang of people who are professionals and there are continuous offences committed by them. There has to be a leader, and others who should have been charge-sheeted in three or more cases.”
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Special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal, who was not informed about the agency filing the supplementary charge sheet in court, defended the NIA’s action stating the charges could be levied under the MCOCA only if it fell under the Act’s purview. Mr. Rasal said, “When you say organised crime, there should be a gang. A person cannot become a gang leader simply because he is involved in two crimes.”
A senior police officer, requesting anonymity, said, “We are living in unusual times so unusual things are bound to happen. It is an absolute first case; it is a bad precedent. When the ATS came up with its path-breaking revelations, every court applied its mind and approved the sections and investigations. The political scenario changes and it is unbelievable that their investigation is trashed.” The officer said that trashing a report by an investigative agency and discounting even court’s cognisance is demoralising for the police force.
Criminal lawyer Abad Ponda said, “How can you nullify somebody else’s investigation? It all has to be put up before the court to decide which report to accept. Ultimately, the court decides on the basis of the evidence and not on the basis of what the investigating agencies say. The totality of the evidence has to be seen and how the witness fares in the box.”
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Other lawyers, speaking in general on the MCOCA, said it was a draconian law and should not be applied in any case. Criminal lawyer Vijay Hiremath said, “The Indian Penal Code has enough provisions to deal with any kind of offences.” He said logically, if the MCOCA was invoked in one bomb blasts case, then it should be applied to other similar cases as well.