The Bombay high court quashed and set aside an order of a special court rejecting the discharge plea of former secretary of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) Saquib Nachan and his accomplice in a case of firing at advocate and VHP member Manoj Raicha in Bhiwandi in 2012. A division bench of Justices P.V. Hardas and P.N. Deshmukh recently remitted the matter back to the trial court in Thane for a decision afresh in accordance with the law. The judges also told the court to expeditiously decide the discharge applications of both the accused. The accused had, on March 21, 2013, challenged the impugned order of a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Thane, which rejected the discharge applications. The accused pleaded that statements of the 164 witnesses were supplied to them on April 30. In addition, other material — the copy of station diary entries — were obtained by them under the Right to Information Act in May and August. As such, these documents were not available to the trial court when the impugned order was passed to reject their discharge plea. Rebecca Gonsalves and Sharif Shaikh, appearing for the appellants, urged the court to remit the matter back to the trial judge for a fresh decision after taking into consideration the material obtained by the accused. Mr Raicha was attacked in Bhiwandi, Thane last year by some unidentified persons near his office, who fled after firing at him. He had later claimed that he was attacked by Saquib Nachan and his accomplices. The police filed a case against the duo in a MCOCA court after recording statements of witnesses. Nachan is also an accused in another case, that of bomb blasts in Mulund, Bombay Central and Vile Parle between December 2002 and March 2003. The trial in this case has not yet started and the accused is on bail. Following the blasts, Nachan was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and tried in a special designated court. Earlier, the Bombay high court had granted a stay on the trial and asked the state and the police not to proceed against Nachanuntil further orders on the petition.
