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

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 rewindBombay HC sets aide BMC order to demolish Kangana Ranautrsquos bungalowThe Bombay High Court on November 27 set aside the order by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC to demolish actor Kangana Ranautrsquos 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 bodyThe HC ordered that a valuer will be appointed to ascertain the damages caused due to the demolition ldquoThe valuer will submit a report to the court after which it will pass an order on compensation to Kangana Ranautrdquo said the benchThe BMC had demolished a part of Kanganas bungalow at Mumbais Pali Hill on September 9 The actor alleged that the civic bodys action against her was a result of her comments against the Maharashtra government and the ruling Shiv SenaMumbai Metro car shed project put on holdThe Bombay High Court on December 16 temporarily paused the construction of a Metro car shed project at Mumbairsquos 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 ordersThe Centre and the Shiv Senaled 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 GoregaonVaravara Rao to be in hospital till December 14 Bombay HCThe Bombay High Court on December 3 said the condition of poetactivist Varavara Rao arrested in the Elgar ParishadMaoist 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 saidOn November 18 the high court had noted that 81yearold Rao suffered from neurological ailments and also needed postCOVID19 care after recovering from the viral infectionlsquoHumanity most importantrsquo Bombay HC on Navlakharsquos stolen specsObserving that humanity is most important the Bombay High Court on December 8 referred to the alleged theft of activist Gautam Navlakhas spectacles inside Taloja prison and called for the need to conduct a workshop for jail officials to sensitise them on the needs of prisonersNavlakha is an accused in the Elgar ParishadMaoist 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 courierHumanity is most important Everything else will follow Today we learnt about Navlakhas spectacles This is the high time to conduct a workshop for even jail authorities Justice Shinde saidPlea in Bombay HC seeking suspension of Kangana Ranautrsquos Twitter accountA plea was filed in the Bombay High Court to get Kangana Ranautrsquos Twitter account suspended for spreading continuous hatred disharmony in the country and attempting to divide the country with her extremist tweetsThis 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 DecemberMarch was also seen in the ongoing farmers protest in DelhiSameer Thakkar granted bail in case of offensive posts against Uddhav AadityaThe 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 ministerson Aaditya ThackerayA 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 MumbaiBombay HC refuses bail to Arnab Goswami in abetment to suicide caseThe 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 SS Shinde and Justice MS 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 HCs observationsGoswami later got bail after he moved the Supreme CourtBail denied to Wadhawan brothers in Yes Bank caseThe 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 filedJustice 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 courtRhea Chakraborty gets bail in drugs caseActor Rhea Chakraborty was released from Byculla womens 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 NCBs 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 Rheas caseTablighis didnrsquot spread COVID19 or religion Bombay HCIn a significant verdict the Bombay High Courts 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 COVID19 nor indulged in propagating their religionA division bench of Justice V M Deshpande and Justice AB Borkar said There is no material produced by the prosecution to prove that the applicants were engaged in Tablighs work and they were involved in preaching religious ideology or making speeches at religious placesActivist Stan Swamy given straw sipper by Taloja jail authoritiesThe advocate of activist Father Stan Swamy an accused in the Elgar ParishadMaoist links case on December 4 told a special court that Swamy has been given a straw and sipper by the Taloja jail authoritiesSwamy 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 himPalghar lynching case 47 more accused get bailA 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 15000 each Earlier the court granted bail to 58 accused in the caseNearly 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