MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday issued a notice to the Attorney General for India on a petition filed by former Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze , who has filed a plea for his release on bail from jail and questioned the validity of certain legal provisions preventing it. “Since the constitutional validity of Section 306 (4)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Code is challenged, we issue notice to the Attorney General,” said the HC division bench of Justices MS Sonak and Kamal Khata. The section provides that an accused granted pardon as an approver in a criminal case shall, unless he is already on bail, be detained in custody until the termination of the trial.
Section 306 (4)(b) CrPC stipulates that every person accepting a tender of pardon shall be examined as a State witness in the trial court and is to remain in custody till the trial concludes unless he was already on bail. Waze had filed a hand-written petition from Taloja Prison, where he is lodged as an undertrial accused in the Antilia bomb scare and Mansukh Hiran murder case . He is also accused of extorting money from hotel and bar establishments in Mumbai.
His lawyer, Rounaik Naik, arguing before the bench on Oct 1, said he is challenging the very validity of the law on the grounds that it violates a citizen’s fundamental right to liberty and equality. Naik said Waze is an approver in the restaurant and bars’ extortion case. The HC posted the matter on Oct 11 when it will consider Waze’s plea for in.
