Bombay High Court To Decide Whether Delay In Filing Appeal U/S 21 NIA Act Can Be Condoned Beyond 90 Days

Can the High Court condone delay and entertain an appeal under section 21 of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act for bail even if the application wasn’t filed within the statutory period of 90 days, the Bombay High Court will decide.

A division bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri Godse on Wednesday appointed senior advocates Aabad Ponda and Sharan Jagtiani to assist it in deciding the legal issue that has arisen in two appeals before it.

The bench called it an “important issue” and said it will first decide on the legal issue before proceeding to hear appeals on the merits.

The first case before the court is of dismissed cop Vinayak Shinde, an accused in the Antilia bomb scare case which was followed by the death of businessman Mansukh Hiran. There was a delay of 299 day in filing the appeal.

Shinde has sought bail claiming parity with co-accused Naresh Gaur. Gaur was granted bail by the special NIA court and the bail was upheld by the High Court. Shinde’s bail on the other hand was rejected by the special NIA court after which he approached the High Court.

The second NIA appeal the court is seized with is filed by one Faizal Mirza and he is seeking to condone the delay of 835 days to decide his bail application. Mirza was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad and is accused of conspiring with Pakistan-based terror organisations to carry out attacks in Mumbai, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. Mirza’s case was transferred to the NIA in 2018.

It is the NIA’s case that an appeal filed under section 21 of the NIA Act after the mandatory period of 90 days cannot be entertained at any cost and must be dismissed at the outset.

Section 21(5) provides every appeal under the provision shall be preferred within a period of thirty days; High Court may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period but no appeal shall be entertained after the expiry of period of ninety days.

The court gave the senior counsel two weeks to prepare their arguments on the law point. The matters will be listed after two weeks now.

Also Read: NIA Act | High Court Can Condone Delay In Filing Appeal Even Beyond 90 Days In Appropriate Cases: JKL High Court