Detention of person under MCOCA should end once sanction to prosecute is denied: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court recently observed that the detention of an accused under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA/ Act) cannot be continued once the competent authority under the Act has refused to grant sanction to prosecute the accused [Dinesh Ganesh Indre and Others v. State of Maharashtra].Single-judge Justice NJ Jamadar stated so while granting bail to four persons accused under MCOCA. .The judge opined that there could possibly be no case of MCOCA, if competent authority does not grant sanction to prosecute.“In that event, strictly speaking, there would be no case involving an offence under MCOCA, 1999. Sans sanction by the competent authority, the Special Court cannot take cognizance of the offences under the MCOCA. If previous sanction of competent authority is not granted, the extension which was granted by the Special Court, in the wake of the invocation of the provisions contained in MCOCA, must cease to operate as the MCOCA provisions would itself cease to have any application,” the Court observed..The accused in the case were arrested by the Mumbai police in September 2023 for conspired robbery.On November 28, 2023, before the expiry of 90-day statutory period, police sought extension of time to file its chargesheet and the special court under MCOCA allowed the same and time was extended till December 18, 2023.On December 12, 2023, the investigating agency moved for sanction to prosecute but it was rejected by competent authority. The matter was then sent back to the judicial magistrate from the special court.On December 13, 2023, the accused move for default bail before Magistrate but the chargesheet was filed the following day. The application by the accused for default bail was, therefore, rejected by the Magistrate court..The Magistrate observed that since the special MCOCA judge had extended the period by 21 days and the chargesheet was filed within the extended period, applicants were not entitled to default bail. .Justice Jamadar disagreed with the Magistrate’s reasoning. He opined that the extended period for completion of investigation would terminate on the day the competent authority declines to grant sanction. On the next day, the accused would get the right to seek default bail, in the event chargesheet is not filed, the judge held.Further, once the sanction to prosecute is rejected, MCOCA would itself cease to apply. Accordingly, the High Court directed that all the accused be released on bail..Advocates Pankaj More, Nitin Kamble and Sukrut Mhatre appeared for the applicants.Additional public prosecutor Ranjana Humane appeared for State.[Read order]