V.S. KOTWAl, J.:---A small meeting convened on 3rd August, 1980 when the sun was blazing and the workers of the Crompton Graveas Factory were on way to report to the duty a speech was delivered by one Dr. Samant who is claimed to be a labour leader, which is claimed and alleged ultimately to have given a pathetic and tragic twist which was perhaps not in contemplation of the persons who had assembled there, though it carries with it a good deal of controversy.

2. The workers of the said factory are governed by a union which is known as Cromption Greaves Employees Union (briefly referred to hereinafter the "rival union"). It is alleged that the union led by the petitioner wanted to have reins of the said factory and that it was the cherished desire of several workers of this union should desert ties with the said rival union and should extend allegiance to their union. The said meaning was convened, as is disclosed or reflected through the record, wherein some grievances were ventilated by the leader which included that some of the workers have been retained as temporary workers even though they had put in quite a sizeable number of years of service in the factory. The other grievance, as usual, related to the wages and the conditions of service. It was echoed time and again in the said speech that it is high time that the management should take note of such grievances and try to rectify and give redress to the aggrieved workers. This meeting was over by 4.30 or 5.00 p.m. when everyone appears to have dispersed including the speaker Dr. Samant.

3. There was a disquieting lull for about 4 to 5 hours when no body had even speculated the impending tragedy that was to occur. It is alleged that some of the persons went to the house of one Udyakumar Samant whose only fault at that time appeared to be that he happened to be the brother of one Prabhakar Samant who was the office-bearer of the said rival union. It is alleged that the miscreants stealthily entered the house and attacked the said Udyakumar who was in a vulnerable position and unarmed and he was stabbed practically to death. It is then alleged that while this scene was being enacted at the house of said Udaykumar Samant within the limit of Bandra Police Station, another incident was witnessed at the Kanjur Marg Railway Station where it is alleged that another batch of miscreants wielded knives and other weapons and assaulted some persons as a result of which three persons sustained injuries out of whim nor Nokte succumbed to the said injuries in the Sion Hospital.

4. Both these incidents were detected the first by the relations and especially by the wife of Prabhakar while the other by the persons who were nearby. The matter was immediately reported to the Police on the basis of which F.I.R. was lodged or formally recorded and the crime was registered. As regards the Bandra incident is concerned, the crime was registered at Kherwadi Police Station while the other crime was registered at Kurla Police Station. After registration of offences, the usual investigation commenced. Various panchanamas were drawn including the inquest on the two dead bodies and both the dead bodies were sent for autopsy. It appears that the Police could not collect sufficient material on the same day but the investigation continued to be in progress and that is how, the accused came to be arrested in batches. For the purpose of the record, it can be stated that the original accused Nos. 8 and 10 were arrested on 4th August, 1980, while accused No. 3 was arrested on 7th August, accused No. 7 on the 9th August and the last batch consisting of accused Nos. 1, 2 and 4 to 6 on 10th August, 1980 which perhaps completed the arraigning of ten accused persons involving their complicity in the said offences.

5. From time to time, police custody remand was obtained by the Investigation Officers as the accused were produced before the concerned Magistrate. In so far as the petitioner-original accused No.