Bombay High court clears oldest pending appeal

The oldest criminal appeal of 26 years was finally disposed of on Monday.

The Bombay high court dismissed the appeal filed by the state government, challenging the acquittal of seven accused in a 1984 murder case.

"After 26 years, we do not find any reason to interfere with the order passed by the trial court," said the division bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice ML Tahaliyani.

The seven accused were acquitted by a sessions court in 1985. "The state had appealed against the acquittal in the high court," said additional public prosecutor Pradeep Hingorani.

The seven accused, suspected to be local gangsters, allegedly murdered Maxi Pascol, allegedly a goon from the Powai area, on February 2, 1984, when Pascol was travelling in an autorickshaw to the Andheri metropolitan court to attend a case hearing.  A taxi overtook his autorickshaw near Powai lake and stopped suddenly. Soon, another taxi stopped. Pascol sensed something was wrong. He rushed out of the auto and started running in the opposite direction.

According to the police, the accused, armed with choppers and knives, chased him. Pascol fell into a trench and the accused allegedly assaulted him.

Two motorcyclists saw the incident, noted down the taxi numbers and informed the police about it. He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead on admission.

Based on the taxi numbers, the accused were arrested and a case of murder and rioting was slapped against them.
During the trial, the prosecution examined 21 witnesses. The sessions court said the prosecution had failed to prove any motive behind the murder.

On December 24, 1985, the accused were let off and the state government appealed against their acquittal.

On September 1, 1986, the high court allowed the state to appeal and the petition was admitted. Since then, it had been pending. "As per the note forwarded by the registry, this was the oldest criminal appeal pending in the court," said Hingorani.