The Delhi Police’s decision to invoke the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) charge against arrested cricketers in IPl spot-fixing case has come in for sharp criticism from legal experts. They said no case of MCOCA is made out against the cricketers — who have no previous criminal record — and that the police's move was unwarranted in this case.
Noted criminal lawyers maintained invoking MCOCA against the cricketers was a sheer misuse of the special statute and that the case would fall flat before the court. Notably, the provisions of MCOCA deny bail to an accused besides giving the police an extended period of six months for filing the chargesheet. Also, the confession of the accused in police custody under this Act becomes admissible in the court leading to the conviction of accused. This, lawyers said, makes MCOCA even harsher.
Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta said the offence of the cricketers does not call for charges other than the criminal conspiracy (120-B of IPC). "Invoking MCOCA against the cricketers, who have no previous criminal record, is unwarranted. It is for very serious offences which have endangering impact," Gupta cautioned. He wondered as to how police slapped such a stringent act against the accused even as their offence fulfilled no criterion for the same.
Some other lawyers too said the move by the Delhi Police was taken in haste and the same could be a cause of big embarrassment for the prosecuting agency. They insisted that the police should disclose what 'clinching' evidence they have that prompted them to slap such a severe charge. Otherwise, the police would lose its credibility, they warned.
"Delhi Police's move is unjust and against the law. The accused (cricketers) should immediately approach the High Court for quashing of the charge," said KK Manan, noted criminal lawyer. He alleged that the MCOCA charge against the cricketers was a result of police's failure to establish a strong case against the accused. "MCOCA will enable police, though unlawfully, to strengthen their case as the accused will not be able to get bail and the police will get an extended period of six months to file the chargesheet," Manan added.
The legal experts were of the opinion that stringent provisions of the MCOCA were quite often being misused by the prosecuting agencies to cover up the lacunae in investigation. They, however, said the charges could not be sustained as they did not meet either of the criteria for invoking this charge. The experts said even a Supreme Court judgement on MCOCA says that each and every requirement has to be met for this charge to be invoked against an accused.
Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) requires three pre-conditions, in the absence of which the charge cannot be invoked. Senior criminal lawyer Majeed Memon said no pre-requirements are met in order to charge the cricketers with MCOCA in this case. "A person needs to be a part of the organized crime syndicate, must have indulged in the organized crime and should have been involved in continuing unlawful activity in past three years to be slapped with MCOCA. A solitary act will not fall under this charge. All ingredients are essential to invoke this harsh act," Memon said.
It is noteworthy that the Delhi Police has invoked MCOCA on cricketer Sreesanth and 26 others in the Indian Premier league spot fixing case citing the ground that investigators have established direct links between some bookies arrested in the case and the Mumbai underworld which involves Dawood Ibrahim and his associate Chhota Shakeel.
Punishment under this act is a minimum of five years with a fine of 5 lakh rupees for offences other than those involving murder. For offence leading to murder in MCOCA, the guilty can be sentenced to death or undergo life imprisonment.