JUDGMENT - T.K. CHANDRASHEKHARA DAS, J.:---Rule. By consent rule made returnable forthwith.

2. Heard both sides.

3. The petitioner seeks to revise the order dated 21-1-2000 passed by the Special Judge, Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime, Greater Bombay which reads as under:

"Oral application to have an access to the remand application of the learned advocate for the accused stands rejected. Accused by separate order are remand to judicial custody till upto and inclusive of 1-2-2000."

4. This order came to be passed by the Court below on a request made by the persons including petitioners Nos. 1 to 3 to have access to the remand application made by the Public Prosecutor. Petitioner Nos. 1 to 3 are implicated in D.C.P. C.R. No. 103 of 1999 (Pydhonie Police Station C.R. No. 290 of 1999) for the offences punishable under sections 302, 120(b) read with 34 of Indian Penal Code and also sections 3, 25 and 27 of the Arms Act. It is to be noted that 4th petitioner is not implicated in that C.R. The case of the petitioners is that apart from the above C.R. they were taken to custody under the provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (hereinafter referred to as "the said Act") and every interval between remands that has been prescribed in section 21 of the said Act, they are being produced before the Special Judge and the prosecution is obtaining remand of the petitioners without divulging the contents of the remand application.

5. In this context, the short grievance that Mr. Memon Counsel for the petitioners tried to make out is that whenever they are subjected the remand on the application for remand, they are entitled to know the contents of the remand application consistent with the provisions of section 167 of Criminal Procedure Code. According to him in every criminal case, when the accused are remanded under section 167, the prosecutors are finishing copy of the remand application so that the concerned accused will come to know the circumstances in which the remand was sought. This is being done for enabling the accused to formulate their own defence and to obviate arbitrariness and secure fair treatment. According to the Counsel, this opportunity cannot be taken away from the present petitioners and the Special Judge denying the opportunity to have access to remand application, is a clear violation of section 167 of Criminal Procedure Code.

6. He also contended that denial of the access to remand application, does amount to infraction of fundamental rights as enshrined under section (sic Article) 21 of the Constitution of India.

7. A detailed reply has been filed by the State. Additional Advocate General appearing for the State made available to me a copy of the remand application. I have perused the same. According to Mr. Janardhan, Additional Advocate General, under section 19 of the said Act, certain materials and information are intended to be kept secret and those are enumerated in detail in that section. According to him remand application is full of such materials and information which has to be kept secret even by the Court. For appreciating his argument, I think it is necessary to extract section 19 of the said Act which reads as follows:---

"Protection of Witness.--(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code, the proceeding under this Act may be held in-camera, if the Special Court so desires.

(2) A Special Court may, on an application made by a witness in any proceeding before it or by the Public Prosecutor in relation to such witness or on its own motion, take such measures as it deems fit for keeping the identity and address of any witness secret.

(3) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (2), the measures which a Special Court may take under that sub-section may include,---

(a) the holding of the proceedings at a place to be decided by the Special Court;

(b) the avoiding of the mention of the names and addresses of the witnesses in i

Click Here to Read the rest of this document