SC stays HC orders of premature release of gangster Arun Gawli in murder case

New Delhi [India], June 3 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday put a stay till further orders the premature release of gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli, serving life imprisonment in a murder case.
A vacation bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Sandeep Mehta stayed the operation of the April 5 order of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court.
The High Court had ordered the Maharashtra State authorities to consider Gawli's application for premature release under the 2006 remission policy.
The top court also issued notice to Gawli on the plea of the Maharashtra government in the matter.
The Maharashtra government moved the apex court, seeking a stay on the April 5 order of the High Court.
The Nagpur bench of the High Court had allowed the plea of Gawli where he had sought direction to the government for his premature release on account of the remission policy of January 10, 2006, which was prevailing on the date of his conviction on August 31, 2012.
Gawli, who is undergoing life imprisonment for the 2006 murder case of Mumbai Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar under provisions of MCOCA, has claimed to have complied with all the conditions of the 2006 policy.
The rejection of his application for premature release by the state authorities is unjust, arbitrary, and liable to be set aside, Gawli said.
The Maharashtra government has opposed his plea before the High Court for premature release stating that revised guidelines of March 18, 2010, for premature release contemplates that there shall be no premature release of a convict of organised crime unless he undergoes 40 years of actual imprisonment.
The High Court had rejected the State government's contentions and gave authorities four weeks to pass a consequential order in that regard.
However, on May 9, the state government again moved the High Court, seeking four months to implement the April 5 order, saying they had challenged the verdict in the top court.
The High Court then gave the government four more weeks for implementation of the April 5 order of premature release of Gawli free and made it clear that no more extensions would be granted.
He was arrested and underwent a trial in 2006 for the murder of Jamsandekar. In August 2012, a Sessions Court in Mumbai sentenced him to life imprisonment in the murder case.
Gawli (68) was a gangster of Dagdi Chawl in Byculla and later founded Akhil Bharatiya Sena. He served as MLA from 2004-09 from the Chinchpokli seat of Mumbai. (ANI)