Year-ender 2020: Historic judgments, observations by Mumbai courts

A wrap up of the judgments, observations made by the courts in Mumbai in 2020

The coronavirus induced lockdown in 2020 made virtual court proceedings the new normal in India. The Bombay High Court and other special courts in Mumbai passed some historical judgments virtually this year. Here is a quick rewind.

Bombay HC sets aide BMC order to demolish Kangana Ranaut’s bungalow

The Bombay High Court on November 27 set aside the order by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to demolish actor Kangana Ranaut’s bungalow. A bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and RI Chagla also held that the actor is entitled to compensation due to the malafide action in law by the civic body.

The HC ordered that a valuer will be appointed to ascertain the damages caused due to the demolition. “The valuer will submit a report to the court after which it will pass an order on compensation to Kangana Ranaut,” said the bench.

The BMC had demolished a part of Kangana's bungalow at Mumbai's Pali Hill on September 9. The actor alleged that the civic body's action against her was a result of her comments against the Maharashtra government and the ruling Shiv Sena.

Mumbai Metro car shed project put on hold

The Bombay High Court on December 16 temporarily paused the construction of a Metro car shed project at Mumbai’s Kanjurmarg and asked the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to maintain status quo. The HC stayed the construction at the new site and asked the state government to wait for its orders.

The Centre and the Shiv Sena-led MVA government are locked in a tussle over ownership of the land earmarked by the state for constructing the car depot which was earlier planned at Aarey Colony, a green belt in Goregaon.

Varavara Rao to be in hospital till December 14: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court on December 3 said the condition of poet-activist Varavara Rao, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, had improved but he will continue to remain at a private hospital till December 14. A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik perused a medical report submitted by the Nanavati hospital where Rao was admitted on November 18. "There is some slight improvement. He shall continue to remain admitted there till December 14," the court said.

On November 18, the high court had noted that 81-year-old Rao suffered from neurological ailments and also needed post-COVID-19 care after recovering from the viral infection.

‘Humanity most important’: Bombay HC on Navlakha’s stolen specs

Observing that humanity is most important, the Bombay High Court on December 8 referred to the alleged theft of activist Gautam Navlakha's spectacles inside Taloja prison and called for the need to conduct a workshop for jail officials to sensitise them on the needs of prisoners.

Navlakha is an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik said it has learnt about how spectacles of Navlakha were stolen inside jail and the prison authorities refused to accept the new spectacles sent by his family through courier.

"Humanity is most important. Everything else will follow. Today, we learnt about Navlakha's spectacles. This is the high time to conduct a workshop for even jail authorities," Justice Shinde said.

Plea in Bombay HC seeking suspension of Kangana Ranaut’s Twitter account

A plea was filed in the Bombay High Court to get Kangana Ranaut’s Twitter account suspended for "spreading continuous hatred, disharmony in the country and attempting to divide the country with her extremist tweets".

This came as Ranaut got herself mired in yet another controversy after she said that an elderly woman, who was seen protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi in December-March, was also seen in the ongoing farmers' protest in Delhi.

Sameer Thakkar granted bail in case of offensive posts against Uddhav, Aaditya

The Supreme Court refused to entertain a bail plea of a man, who was last month arrested from Gujarat for allegedly posting objectionable comments in tweets against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his minister-son Aaditya Thackeray.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian asked the counsel for Sameer Thakkar to approach the Bombay High Court with the plea, saying it can also uphold his fundamental rights. He was later granted bail by a court in Mumbai.

Bombay HC refuses bail to Arnab Goswami in abetment to suicide case

The Bombay High Court on November 9 refused to grant bail to Republic TV managing director and chief editor Arnab Goswami and asked him to approach the lower court for bail. A division bench of Justice S.S. Shinde and Justice M.S. Karnik asked him to file for regular bail under Section 439 of the CrPC with the Alibaug court and directed that it should be decided on merits within four days, "without being influenced by observations" by the HC's observations.

Goswami later got bail after he moved the Supreme Court.

Bail denied to Wadhawan brothers in Yes Bank case

The Bombay HC on November 4 rejected the bail applications of Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL), in the Yes Bank fraud case, holding that procedures were followed when a chargesheet was filed.

Justice S V Kotwal rejected the arguments made by the Wadhawan brothers' lawyers, senior advocates Amit Desai and A M Singhvi, that the CBI failed to follow procedure while filing a chargesheet in the case. The Wadhawans had sought 'default bail', claiming that the CBI, the prosecuting agency, had not complied with the CrPC while filing a chargesheet in a special CBI court.

Rhea Chakraborty gets bail in drugs case

Actor Rhea Chakraborty was released from Byculla women's jail after almost a month as the Bombay High Court granted her conditional bail on October 7. While accepting her bail plea, the court rejected NCB's theory that she was part of a drug syndicate. The court in its detailed order said that Section 27A, which is the most stringent section of the NDPS Act, was not applicable in Rhea's case.

Tablighis didn’t spread COVID-19 or religion: Bombay HC

In a significant verdict, the Bombay High Court's Nagpur Bench ruled that a group of Myanmarese nationals who attended the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in Delhi in March were not responsible for the spread of COVID-19 nor indulged in propagating their religion.

A division bench of Justice V. M. Deshpande and Justice A.B. Borkar said: "There is no material produced by the prosecution to prove that the applicants were engaged in Tabligh's work and they were involved in preaching religious ideology or making speeches at religious places."

Activist Stan Swamy given straw, sipper by Taloja jail authorities

The advocate of activist Father Stan Swamy, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, on December 4 told a special court that Swamy has been given a straw and sipper by the Taloja jail authorities.

Swamy had filed an application in a special court in November seeking the NIA to return the straw and sipper allegedly seized from him at the time of his arrest. The NIA, however, told the court last month that it had not seized the straw and sipper from Swamy and hence there was no question of returning those items to him.

Palghar lynching case: 47 more accused get bail

A Thane court granted bail to 47 people arrested in the Palghar mob lynching case. District Judge P P Jadhav ordered that the accused be released on a surety of Rs 15,000 each. Earlier, the court granted bail to 58 accused in the case.

Nearly 200 people have so far been arrested in connection with the case. Advocates Amrut Adhikari and Atul Patil, who appeared for the applicants, submitted in the court that their clients had no role in the incident and the police arrested them on mere suspicion.

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