[Antilia bomb scare case] Can NIA Court stay its own order? Bombay High Court to decide

The Bombay High Court will decide whether a Special NIA Court can stay its own order granting bail, while giving its verdict in the plea filed by Naresh Gaur, the first bail recipient in the Antilia bomb scare case.

. A Special Court under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act had granted bail to Gaur, a cricket bookie who was accused of procuring SIM cards for prime accused Sachin Waze and co-accused, encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma.

. After passing a reasoned order granting bail, the Court had stayed the order to enable the NIA to file an appeal before the High Court. The same was recorded in the roznama (register of the daily proceedings of a court case). Aggrieved by the roznama , Gaur moved the High Court through Diamondwala & Co. with the present writ petition.

. Senior Advocate Shirish Gupte and Advocate Aniket Nikam, appearing for Gaur, submitted that the Special Court erred in applying Section 309 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (power to postpone or adjourn proceedings).

He argued that the Court had, after perusing the chargesheet, come to a conclusion that Gaur had no active knowledge of the conspiracy and hence had proceeded to grant bail. However, while staying its own order, it overlooked Gaur's constitutional right to freedom, it was argued.

. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh and Advocate Sandesh Patil, appearing for the NIA, raised a preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petition before a single-judge of the High Court. Citing Section 21 of the NIA Act, Singh stated that every order passed by the NIA Court could be challenged in appeal only before a Division Bench of the High Court.

He stated that Gaur was raising an issue pertaining to an order of the NIA Court, and as per the order in the case of Sudha Bharadwaj v. NIA passed by Justice SV Kotwal on July 11, 2021, the same had to be raised before a Division Bench of the High Court.

. Gupte, however, responded that Section 21 of the NIA provided for appeals and reviews but did not clarify against what the appeal or review would lie. According to him, the plea by Gaur did not pertain to the question of rejection or grant of bail, but on a stay after bail had been granted. Hence, the extraordinary jurisdiction of the High Court had been invoked.

. After hearing the submissions of both counsel, Justice Sandeep K Shinde reserved the plea and kept the matter for orders tomorrow.

[Antilia bomb scare case] Can NIA Court stay its own order? Bombay High Court to decide

Neha Joshi

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