The Bombay High Court granted bail on September 20, to Munib Iqbal Memon, one of the accused in the 2012 Pune serial blasts case, after he spent nearly 12 years in jail. Memon is required to furnish a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh, along with sureties of the same amount for his release, the report added.

A division bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Sharmila U. Deshmukh issued the verdict in response to Memon’s appeal, challenging a special court’s February decision that denied him bail. In September 2022, Justice Mohite-Dere had previously rejected Memon’s bail plea, citing a lack of reasonable grounds to believe he was not guilty of the charges.

The High Court has expedited the trial process, instructing the trial court to conclude proceedings by December 2023. Memon’s advocate, Mubin Solkar, argued that his client, a 42-year-old tailor, had been detained without trial for over 12 years, violating his right to a speedy trial, which warranted his release on bail.

The blasts occurred on August 1, 2012, on Pune’s Jangli Maharaj Road, injuring one person. An unexploded bomb was also defused at the scene. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested Memon along with seven others for their alleged involvement in the incident. Memon faces multiple charges under various laws, including the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), the Explosive Substances Act, and the Arms Act.

Mumbai: As the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and Mahayuti alliances are busy with the rounds of meetings on seat-sharing and candidates finalisation, Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) on Saturday released its first list of candidates. The Prakash Ambedkar-led party included 11 candidates in its first list.

The elections for 288 state assemblies in Maharashtra will be held later this year. The polling schedule is yet not announced, but it is expected that voting will take place in mid-November with code of conduct coming into effect in next 15 days.

The 11 VBA candidates will contest in the constituencies of the cities like Chhatrapati Shambhajinagar, Nagpur and Nanded. The other seats includes Loha, Shevgaon, Raver, Sindhkhed, Khanapur, Dhamangaon Railway and Washim.

Prakash Ambedkar was supporting the MVA (Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP), Congress) in Maharashtra during the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. However, the seat-sharing talks failed and MVA decided to contest independently.

What Prakash Ambedkar Said

Announcing the first candidate list, VBA National President Prakash Ambedkar said, “Staying true to our sacred ideology, we have given representation to the deprived, Bahujan groups with the aim of gaining true representation and political power, and breaking the hegemony of families of certain castes.”

Transgender rights activist Shamibha Patil has been named the candidate for the Raver seat and Kisan Chavan, who belongs from the Pardhi community has been named from Shevgaon.

Ambedkar added that, “In the coming days, more names will be announced. We are in touch with very prominent political parties and soon more parties will join our alliance”.

“After failing to man-make the riots between OBC-Maratha, mainstream parties have resorted to the old and tested method of Hindu-Muslim divide. The silence of the mainstream parties should be questioned”, added Ambedkar.

Mira-Bhayandar: The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the trustees and the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) to submit affidavits in response to a civil public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Khush Khandelwal against an allegedly illegally constructed Dargah in the coastal area of Uttan near Bhayandar.

Direction Given To Dargah Trustees & The MBMC By Bombay HC

The bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar directed the dargah trustees and the MBMC to file the affidavit-in-reply to the paragraph-wise averments made in the PIL within four and two weeks respectively. In legal terms, an averment is a statement of fact or allegation that is made in a charge, information, or in the pleadings of a civil claim.

Bombay HC Pulls Up MBMC

The HC also pulled up the MBMC for dragging its feet in acting against unauthorised constructions under the provisions of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act. The counsel representing the trust submitted that at present no construction on the subject premises is being raised. 

Due to their absence in the previous hearing, the HC had directed fresh notices to be served to the trustees of the dargah (respondent number 6) while indicating that in case they are not represented in the next hearing, the matter may proceed ex-parte against it.

The petitioner-Khush Khandelwal who is the founder of the Hindu Task Force had filed the PIL (PILST/6843/2024) on 2, March 2024 alleging massive illegal constructions on land measuring more than 70,000 square feet by the Bale Shah Peer Charitable Trust on protected mangrove belts located on government-owned land parcels near the sensitive Chowk jetty in Uttan near Bhayandar.

Apart from facing allegations of illegal encroachments, the shrine is also under the scanner owing to concerns raised by security agencies following reports about alleged visits of people having shady backgrounds. However, the trust rubbishes the claims of shady visitors while continuing to maintain that the dargah has been in existence for more than two centuries ever since the saint Sayyed Bale Shah Peer came and stayed here.