The scope and ambit of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act has been extended by the Bombay high court.
The scope and ambit of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) has been extended by the Bombay high court. It said that the act, brought in with the intention to curb organised crime activities, can be applied to acts/crimes where the object is not for pecuniary gains but also for other advantages.
A full bench of the high court, comprising chief justice Mohit Shah, justice BR Gavai, justice RS Dalvi, passed the judgment on Friday, which read, “If narrower meaning is accepted, it will frustrate the object rather than curbing the mischief sought to cure by the MCOCA.”
The term ‘other advantages’ can mean supremacy in the area, dominance in the underworld or sheer show of strength. Henceforth, these acts can also attract provisions of MCOCA helping the police/prosecution in controlling organised crime syndicate at the lowest level. Thus cases like the Shahid Azmi murder case, Malegaon 2008 blast case, where the accused have committed the crime not for pecuniary gains (monetary benefits) but allegedly to meet their own agendas can now be covered under the act. MCOCA used to primarily apply to members of the organised crime syndicate who, as per the act, are those people indulging in any continuing unlawful activity with the objective of gaining pecuniary benefits or gaining undue economic or other advantage. Earlier, in 2007, a division bench of the high court had held that the words “other advantages” cannot be interpreted to have different meaning than “pecuniary gains or undue economic advantages”. The decision was reaffirmed by another division bench two years later.
A division bench of justices BH Marlapalle and UD Salvi had, in April 2011 while hearing an appeal filed by the state government against the decision of dropping of MCOCA charges against the alleged assailants of advocate Shahid Azmi, differed from the view taken by the earlier judgments of the high court.
Thus, it referred the matter to the full bench, observing that the meaning of the words “other advantages” could not be restricted to being similar pecuniary gains or undue economic advantages, and should be interpreted to widen the scope of the act.
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