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Synopsis

The Supreme Court of India yesterday has reaffirmed its decision form June 3rd to stay the premature release of Arun Gawli, a gangster-turned-politician, who is currently serving a life sentence in a murder case.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta has stayed the operation of the April 5 order of the Bombay High Court. Court will now be hearing the appeal against the High Court's order in November.

Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Gawli, contended that other co-accused had been granted bail and the Bombay High Court was right in granting premature release. 

She further submitted that Gawli is suffering from heart disease and has a lung diseases. To this, the state's counsel responded saying Gawli was a chain smoker over the last 40 years.

Senior Advocate Raja Thackeray, representing the Maharashtra government, highlighted that Gawli faced over 46 charges, including approximately 10 murder cases. 

Under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), convicts had to undergo imprisonment for at least 40 years for remission in terms of the 2015 policy, Court was further told.

Notably, court citied the iconic dialogue from the movie Sholay “So ja beta, warna Gabbar aa jayega”  while confirming its earlier stay and told Ramakrishnan that she should know "not everybody is Arun Gawli".

AOR Aaditya A. Pande and Advocate Sourav Singh, also appeared for the State of Maharashtra.