Three more MCOCA courts needed

The city needs at least three more special courts to clear the backlog of cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), says a report submitted by government pleaders of the Bombay High Court to the additional chief secretary.

Government pleaders Satish Borulkar, Dadhichi Mhaispurkar and Rajeshree Gadhvi and law clerk Amit Pattekar visited the Arthur Road Central Prison on January 4 after under-trials lodged in the prison went for a hunger strike asking for their trials under MCOCA to be expedited.

On January 4, nearly 100 undertrials waited with their grievances for the government pleader’s team at the judicial section of the Arthur Road Central Prison. While some MCOCA under-trials wanted the Act to be repealed, others wanted prisoners languishing in jail for over two years to be granted bail and cases pending since 2001 to be disposed of or expedited. Some of them also said that they had committed petty offences but were still convicted under the stringent act.

The report says there have been 27 cases pending in the special court at Sewree since 2001 and 26 in the court at Fort since 2003. Counting the third MCOCA court set up earlier this month, there is a need for three more special courts in the city. In cases under MCOCA, there is additional pressure on the prosecution as a number of witness are examined to complete the chain of circumstances in an organised crime. The evidence gathered and examined is much more and the number of chargesheeted accused is also larger than the same in cases under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the report says.

The pleaders suggested that since bail provisions under the Act are stringent, it will be fair to expedite the trial of the accused languishing in jail, which would be easier if there are more special courts to hear their cases. They have also suggested that special courts must instruct the prosecution to produce and examine all evidence in the same session and not spill it over to the next date of hearing.

This, they say, has been the main reason for pendency in MCOCA cases. To prevent the booking of petty offenders under the stringent MCOCA, the team suggested that the state government should set up a review committee, headed by a retired HC judge.

Some prominent cases being tried in MCOCA courts: 11/7 Mumbai local train blasts, Malegaon bomb blasts, Aurangabad arms case and the Sara-Sahara illegal construction case.