Antilia case: Delhi High Court dismisses plea by Sachin Waze challenging sanction under UAPA

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed the plea filed by former Mumbai cop Sachin Waze challenging the sanction given for his prosecution under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in relation to the Antilia bomb scare case..The Ministry of Home Affairs had given the sanction for Waze’s prosecution in September last year for his alleged role in planting an explosive-laden car near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s house in Mumbai, as well as in connection with the murder of auto-parts dealer Hiren Mansukh..A Division Bench of Justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal dismissed the petition. .The Court held that it cannot clothe itself with territorial jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter as Waze is a resident of Mumbai who is seeking relief related to proceedings underway in Mumbai and the authorities investigating and adjudicating the matter are also located there..“For the aforesaid reasons, this Court is of the considered view that the order passed by Respondent no. 1 granting sanction for prosecution under Section 45 (1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 would have to be considered along with and in conjunction with investigations and proceedings which it relates to and therefore the courts at Mumbai would have the natural and logical jurisdiction to decide issues challenged in this writ petition,” the Court ruled..The Central government had raised preliminary objections to the maintainability of the petition before the Delhi High Court on the ground that everything related to the case happened in Mumbai, and, therefore, only the Bombay High Court can entertain this petition.Waze had argued that the Delhi High Court has territorial jurisdiction over the issue, as the sanction order was passed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which is located in Delhi.It was submitted that a 2009 judgment of a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court empowers it to deal with the case, and that judgment has been upheld by the Supreme Court..Senior Advocate Santosh Paul along with advocates M Shetty and Chaitanya Sharma appeared for Waze.ASG SV Raju, CGSC Kirtiman Singh along with advocates Madhav Bajan Yash Upadhyay appeared for Union of India.SPPs Akshai Malik and Sandeep K Sadawarte along with advocate Shrikant and Khawar Saleem appeared for the NIA..[Read Order].Antilia case: Sachin Waze approaches Delhi High Court challenging sanction under UAPA