In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court has temporarily suspended the conviction of a man found guilty under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), clearing a legal hurdle for him to contest the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.
Court Upholds Democratic Right Amid Legal Battle
The vacation bench of Justice Sandesh Patil issued an interim order staying the conviction of Vinod Ghogale (43), who was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in a 2009 extortion case. The court observed that while the right to contest an election is not a fundamental right, Ghogale's right to participate in the democratic process was likely to be affected if the conviction was not stayed.
This decision came after Ghogale's appeal against his 2015 conviction, filed in 2016, was admitted but has not been heard since February 2016. The court noted that Ghogale has already served seven years of his sentence.
The 2009 Extortion Case and Conviction
The case dates back to 2009, when an FIR was registered at the Vikhroli police station. It alleged that members of an organised crime syndicate, led by an absconding accused named Kumar Pillai, were involved in a firing incident to extort Rs 50 lakh from a builder. Ghogale was the fifth accused in the case and was arrested on April 21, 2010.
According to a confession statement by a co-accused, Sanjit alias Lafda Shetty, Ghogale's role involved being aware of the syndicate's activities. He was alleged to have taken bullets from a shop of a co-accused on one occasion and taken delivery of a box containing pistols, live cartridges, and cash on another, and received training in handling firearms.
In 2015, a special MCOCA court convicted him and others, handing down the 10-year sentence. After the High Court rejected his plea for bail and sentence suspension in March 2017, the Supreme Court granted him bail in October 2017 after suspending his sentence.
Nomination and Legal Hurdle for Elections
Ghogale filed his nomination as an independent candidate for Ward No. 119 in Vikhroli East on December 30, the last day for filing nominations. He submitted along with it that his petition seeking a stay on his conviction, filed on December 22, was pending before the High Court.
His lawyer, Subhash Jha, argued that under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, a person convicted and sentenced to two or more years in prison is barred from contesting elections. Therefore, a stay on the conviction was essential for Ghogale to participate in the civic polls.
The state's additional public prosecutor, Mayur Sonavane, opposed the plea, informing the court that after the 2015 conviction, another offence was registered against Ghogale in an alleged criminal conspiracy related to an attempt to murder case.
Court's Reasoning and Next Steps
The High Court, in its order, stated that the primary question was whether the conviction deserved to be stayed given the fixed 10-year sentence and the long-pending appeal. It also noted that the appeal raised substantial questions on merits, including the issue of prior prosecution sanction and the mandatory requirement of two prior chargesheets within 10 years against each accused to invoke MCOCA.
The court ordered that the implementation of the trial court's judgment be stayed pending the final disposal of Ghogale's application. The plea has been posted for hearing before a regular bench on January 21, after the court vacation.
Ghogale told the Times of India that he has been working with the BJP for the last eight years and is currently the Maharashtra state vice-president of the Akhil Bharatiya Kamgar Karmachari Sangh. He has worked as a trade union leader in the aviation and hospitality sectors and was active at the grassroots level during recent Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
