2009 protest case: Sena MLA & 7 others pulled up for not appearing before court

On Monday, the accused came before the court, following which they were formally arrested as part of the execution of the warrant and after assurance that on future dates care will be taken to remain present in court, were granted bail on executing bonds of Rs 15,000.

Kate is currently an MLA of the Anushakti Nagar constituency in eastern Mumbai.

He was booked in a case at Azad Maidan police station along with his wife and 15 others in 2009.

Kate’s wife, Mangala, was then a corporator in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. She and others allegedly protested at the office of the hydraulic engineer of the civic body over water shortage in her constituency.

They were booked for allegedly vandalising the office and booked under charges including section 353 (use of criminal force against public servant) of the Indian Penal Code.

“On going through the record, what appears is that the accused have taken the case very casually and because of their absence, case is prolonging,” special judge Satyanarayan R Navander, of the special court designated for trial of criminal cases involving MPs and MLAs said.

“It is correct that for the trial, judicial custody of the accused is not required. However, if they remain absent, the court is left with no option but to detain them into custody. As the applicants undertake to cooperate with the court in future, it would be proper to release them on bail with fresh surety,” the court said.

Their lawyer informed the court that the accused were not present in court during the previous hearing due to some difficulty and will cooperate henceforth to dispose of the matter at the earliest. The lawyer also told the court that there is a circular of the state government for withdrawal of the case but the prosecution has not acted upon it yet.

The court directed the prosecutor to examine this issue by the next date, and said that till no application is filed regarding the withdrawal, it cannot be acted upon by the court.