Another bench of HC refuses to hear Nawab Malik's plea seeking release from jail

Hours after a single bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday rejected Maharashtra minister Nawab Maliks plea seeking temporary release from jail to enable him to cast his vote in the Rajya Sabha elections voting for which is underway another bench of the high court refused to entertain his petitionA single bench presided over by Justice Bharati Dangre refused an immediate hearing to Malik saying there was no question of sending him for casting his vote with a police escort when permission for the same had been refused by the special courtVoting for six seats of Rajya Sabha from the state which began at the Vidhan Bhavan here at 9 am will continue till 4 pmMalik an NCP leader is currently in jail in a money laundering case He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate ED on February 23 this year in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aidesThe special courts order will have to be quashed if any relief was to be granted Justice Dangre saidMaliks counsel Taraq Sayed approached Justice Dangres court after a bench of Justice P D Naik earlier in the day had refused to allow the minister to step out of custody under police escort or protection and go to the Vidhan Bhavan to cast his voteOn Thursday a special court had rejected Maliks petition seeking that he be either released on a temporary bail for a day or be permitted to go with police escort for votingAfter that Malik had moved the high court with a plea seeking similar reliefsOn Friday senior counsel Amit Desai however argued before Justice Naik that Malik was not pressing for bail Instead all he wanted was for the court to permit him to go with an escort to vote in exercise of constitutional rightJustice Naik however refused to grant him relief saying that though Malik had not used the word bail the tenor of his plea was that of one seeking bail under section 439 of the CrPC and therefore his court was not the appropriate one for grant of bailMaliks counsel Amit Desai had argued before Justice Naik that lables must not be looked at when the high court had wide jurisdiction and important issues were to be decidedI am only pressing for a constitutional order to be passed to enable me to go cast my vote Desai had saidThe real issue is that the special court has interpreted the law in a particular manner which has large consequences on voting as the constitutional right of elected representatives he had saidJustice Naik however refused relief saying that Malik was deliberately avoiding the word bailHe is an undertrial Your bail is rejected by the special court How is it maintainable here Even if one is released on surety bond the source of releasing one is bail only Now you cant say you are not pressing for bail but only alternate prayer How can you do that Justice Naik had saidThe ED opposed Maliks pleas saying the same were not maintainableThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever