28-day furlough granted to gangster Arun Gawli

Mumbai: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on Wednesday granted 28 days’ furlough to gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli. Convicts are entitled to furlough once a year. The DIG prison had refused to grant furlough to Gawli but he moved the high court against this decision.

Advocate A.S. Mardikar and Mir Nagman Ali, on behalf of Gawli, had moved the application before the division bench of Justice B.P. Dharmadhikari and Justice V.M. Deshpande, saying the decision of DIG prison to deny furlough to Gawli was arbitrary and inconsistent with the law.

The competent authority had denied furlough to Gawli on the ground that the provision denies furlough to the prisoners whose appeal challenging conviction is pending and bail application is rejected.

Public prosecutor B.H. Dangre had pointed out to the court that the police had filed an adverse report dated January 20, 2017 against Gawli.

However, after hearing all arguments, the bench said, “The adverse police report is too general in nature because it does not point out any unwarranted activity by the petitioner after his last release on parole leave on October 21, 2016.”

The bench also noted that the petitioner was released on parole on May 5, 2015 and then on furlough on April 13, 2016 and again on parole on October 21, 2016 and on each occasion he reported back to jail on time.

“In this situation, we find denial of furlough leave at least at this stage unsustainable,” observed the bench while granting Gawli 28 days’ furlough. The court has directed him to complete formalities for the furlough within two weeks.

Furlough is a matter of right and every convict after spending a year behind bars is entitled to get furlough and is allowed to go home for around 28 days. Gawli is lodged in the Nagpur Central Prison. He was convicted for the murder of Sena MLA Kamalakar Jamsandekar and awarded life imprisonment by a sessions court in Mumbai on August 3, 2012 along with 11 others.