The Bombay High Court has directed a special court here to re-adjudicate an application filed by Mubin Shaikh, arrested in 2008 for allegedly being a member of the banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, challenging the invocation of provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
A division bench of Justices Sadhana Jadhav and Milind Jadhav gave its judgement on Wednesday and a copy of it was made available on Thursday.
Mr Shaikh and several others were arrested by the Mumbai police in 2008-2009 for allegedly being members of the Indian Mujahideen's (IM) media cell.
The prosecution case is that emails were sent to media organisations in August 2008 claiming responsibility for a series of blasts at Ahmedabad in Gujarat in 2008, in which more than 50 people were killed and several others injured.
The court was on Wednesday hearing the petition filed by Mr Shaikh, seeking to quash the special court's order of April 2019 rejecting his application against the invocation of MCOCA. Mr Shaikh in his plea claimed that pending a hearing of their application against MCOCA, the special court framed charges against them in the case and later rejected the application as infructuous.
The bench in its order said since the application (filed by the accused in the special court) was pending and remained unheard (by the special court), it was of the opinion that the accused persons' "valuable right was jeopardised".
The HC asked the accused to file a fresh application for quashing of charges under the MCOCA and directed the trial court to decide the same within a period of two months.
Mr Shaikh and the other accused in the case have been charged with criminal conspiracy and waging war against the nation, under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, MCOCA, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act and the Explosives Act.
On July 26, 2008, around 20 bombs exploded within an hour across residential areas, market places, and public transport in Ahmedabad, killing 56 people and injuring several others.
In February this year, a special court in Ahmedabad sentenced 38 convicts to death in the case and 11 other convicts to life imprisonment.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sperm Or Egg Donor Cannot Claim To Be Child's Biological Parent: High Court Bombay High Court's Advice To Indrani Mukerjea's Overseas Travel Request For Bank Work High Court Waives Cooling Off Period For Estranged Couple, Says... Vandalism At Kolkata Hospital Where Doctor Was Raped, Tear Gas Fired 150 mg Semen In Kolkata Doctor's Body, Suspect Gang-Rape: Parents To Court "Want To Ask Congress...": Mamata Banerjee Snaps At Ally In Rape-Murder Case Professor 'Digitally Arrested' For 12 Days By Scammers, Loses Rs 12 Lakh Independence Day 2024 Live Updates: PM Modi To Address Nation From Red Fort PM Modi To Address Nation From Red Fort On 78th Independence Day Today Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.