The state government has received a decision from the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, allowing for the early release of Arun Gawli, 69, a former mafia don. A division bench of the court accepted Gawli’s appeal for an early release in accordance with the terms of a 2006 government announcement, which gives the state government the authority to release inmates 65 years of age or older.
Gawli, who went by “Daddy” among his followers, was involved in violent conflicts with the gang of absconding mafia don Dawood Ibrahim during his time in Mumbai’s underworld from the 1970s to the 1990s. In addition, he established the Akhil Bharatiya Sena political party in 1997 and was elected to the legislature in 2004.
Gawli and eleven of his accomplices were found guilty in 2012 of killing Shiv Sena politician and business magnate Kamlakar Jamsandekar. He was given a life sentence by the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court, and he is presently incarcerated at Nagpur Central Prison.
According to a government notification dated January 10, 2006, which states that the state has the authority to release a prisoner after they have served 14 years of a life sentence and/or reach the age of 65 and above, Gawli approached the high court to challenge the rejection of his claim for early release.
Gawli told the court, through his attorney, Mir Nagman Ali, that the jail authorities had denied his request for an early release under the 2006 notification, citing a new notification dated December 1, 2015, which prohibited individuals convicted under the MCOCA Act from receiving benefits under the 2006 notification.
Gawli was also told that the 2006 notification did not allow benefits of the programme to be used by those convicted under acts such as the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, etc. It was argued that the term “et cetera” implied that, in accordance with the principle of “ejusdem generis” (of the same sort), offenders under the MCOCA Act would likewise not be eligible for benefits.
Gawli’s attorney countered that the 2015 letter shouldn’t concern him because he was found guilty in 2012.
The court, which included justices Vinay Joshi and Vrushali Joshi, decided in favour of the former underworld don, holding that he could be excluded from the 2006 notification by applying the “ejusdem generis” criterion and that he was entitled to its advantages. The court said that within four weeks after the injunction, the government was to decide whether to release him.