It is reported that Eknath Shinde has directed the Advocate General to claim in court that the shed will be erected in Aarey Colony. Mumbai: According to sources, Eknath Shinde has pushed to roll-back the stance of the Uddhav Thackeray administration on the contentious Metro vehicle shed proposal in Mumbai... The post appeared first on .

Mumbai Mar 30 PTI The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the Maharashtra government to respond to a Public Interest Litigation PIL filed by a psychiatrist seeking a report on the status of all inmates of mental health facilities in the state and a review of their status for discharge as required under the Mental Healthcare Act 2017The PIL filed by Mumbai resident Dr Harish Shetty highlighted the plight of a woman who was rescued last year from a mental health facility after having languished there for 12 years even though she did not have any significant symptoms of mental illnessA bench of Justices S S Shinde and Sarang Kotwal directed Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to appear on behalf of the government and assist the courtConsidering the seriousness of the matter we have asked the AG to appear in this case the HC saidAdvocate Pranati Mehra who appeared for Dr Shetty told the court that the PIL was prompted by the plight of the woman who had to spend over 12 years in an institution because her husband refused to take her back and her paternal family too had initially abandoned herShe was eventually reunited with her family but there could be others who faced similar issues advocate Mehra saidThe government pleader raised the issue that it was a civil petition and the bench headed by Justice Shinde was hearing only criminal casesThis did not go down well with the court Can you be casual like this in such matters when the issue is to be handled with care Serious issues are raised These are issues related to public health at large There is seriousness This is not adversarial litigation the bench saidThe petition said that under the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 an inmate of a mental health facility can move the Mental Health Review Board to seek discharge upon recoveryKumbhakoni sought time from the court and said all the Supreme Courts orders on the implementation of the Act will have to be looked into The HC said it will hear the matter next on April 12 PTI AYA KRK KRK

Mumbai Feb 18 PTI The Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court on Friday that it will not appoint a new special public prosecutor SPP in the 2003 Khwaja Yunus custodial death case in which four policemen including dismissed cop Sachin Waze are facing trial till March 22Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni who appeared for the Maharashtra government made this statement before a bench of Justices P B Varale and SP Tavade that was hearing a petition filed by Yunuss mother Asiya Begum challenging the removal of the previous SPP Dhiraj Mirajkar from the caseBegum had approached the HC in 2018 following Mirajkars removal that yearOn Friday Kumbhakoni told the court that the state authorities had spoken to Mirajkar and the latter had expressed his inability to continue as the SPP in the case due to several reasonsWe spoke to him Mirajkar on the phone after the last HC hearing in the matter and he gave several reasons including health reasons to say that he will not be able to continue as the SPP in the matter Kumbhakoni saidBegums counsel senior advocate Mihur Desai however told HC that the petitioner too wished to speak to Mirajkar and confirm whether or not the latter could continue as the SPP in the caseDesai urged the court to ensure the state did not appoint a new SPP until thenAs per the petition Mirajkar was appointed SPP in September 2015 but was abruptly removed from the post in April 2018Begum claimed in her plea that the decision to remove Mirajkar was taken by the state government after he filed an application before the trial court seeking that summons be issued to retired police officer Praful Bhosale and three other policemen and make them face trial in the caseThe state had previously told the HC that its decision to remove Mirajkar from the case was not taken to protect these four officialsOn Friday Kumbhakoni told the HC that the court grant some time to the state government to make its stand clear on Mirajkars reappointmentUntil then we the state government will continue with our previous statement made before the court that we will not appoint a new SPP in the matter Kumbhakoni saidThe HC accepted the Maharashtra governments statement and scheduled the matter for further hearing on March 22Yunus a software engineer was detained soon after the December 2002 bomb blast in Mumbai suburb of GhatkoparHe allegedly escaped from custody in the intervening night of January 6-7 2003 while being escorted to Aurangabad for further investigation in the blast case when the police vehicle carrying him met with an accident in Ahmednagar districtSubsequently the states Crime Investigation Department CID lodged an FIR against police officers for allegedly killing Yunus in custody and then destroying evidenceThe CID inquiry indicted 14 policemen but the government granted sanction to prosecute only four of them These four officers Waze Rajendra Tiwari Rajaram Nikam and Sunil Desai are currently facing trial in the custodial death case on charges of murder fabricating evidence and hatching criminal conspiracyWaze who served as an Assistant Police Inspector in Mumbai is currently in jail in the Antilia bomb scare case He was dismissed from police service last year PTI AYA SP RSY RSY