"Serious menace to the society:" Mumbai Court denies bail to 20-year-old for allegedly playing cricket without wearing mask

Mumbai Sessions Court recently denied bail to a 20-year-old boy for violating the curfew restrictions by playing cricket with six other boys without wearing a mask (Naved Qureshi v. State).Additional Sessions Judge Abhijeet Nandgaonkar said that the accused, Naved Qureshi if released, would be a serious menace to the general public, noting how Qureshi along with other boys took law into their hands and failed to adhere to the guidelines issued by the State government to control the spread of COVID-19. ."Even if the applicant/accused would be released on stringent conditions, it will be serious menace to the general public at large as applicant has not abide the guidelines issued by the Authority in this pandemic situation, which is surging in the State and the country," the judge opined while rejecting the bail application..The factual matrix of the case was that Qureshi and six other boys were playing cricket in the middle of the road. When they noticed the police coming towards them, they tried to run away but had to leave their mobile phones behind. .When they returned to collect their phones, one of the police officers had a phone in his hand, which Qureshi's friend, Aasif Narpali, tried to snatch. While doing so, he ended up injuring the officer's hand. The boys were accused of obstructing a public servant from carrying out duty and violation the provisions of the Disaster Management Act (DMA). .Narpali was a juvenile and he was handed over to his father after completing the juvenile formalities.Qureshi was arrested and remanded to judicial custody. The Metropolitan Magistrate rejected his bail application as the other accused seemed to be absconding and hence Qureshi approached the Sessions Court for regular bail..Qureshi's case was that he had nothing to do with the offence and he was being "framed on the basis of concocted story".His contentions were that there was no common intention amongst his friends to hold an unlawful assembly and merely because the other accused were absconding, he could not be denied bail..From the case papers and FIR, Nandgaonkar deduced that Qureshi's name was included for being part of 'unlawful assembly'. The Court noted that the police had during the relevant period imposed curfew under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in view of the COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra. .In such a situation, the boys playing cricket without wearing a mask was a contravention of the provision of the DMA and that in itself is sufficient to hold the group liable for forming an unlawful assembly and contravening the guidelines issued by the State, the Court said. ."Though the applicant is 20 years old, however, he must have to know the situation of pandemic in city and to follow the guidelines issued by the local authority and police," the Court emphasised while denying bail..[Read Order]