Worli Hit-And-Run Case: Informing Accused Of Grounds For Arrest In Writing An 'Empty Formality' In Cases Of Red-Handed Arrest, Observes Bombay HC

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday opined that informing an accused of the grounds of arrest in writing was an “empty formality” in cases where they are caught red-handed like in the case of BMW hit and run case involving Mihir Shah, son of a former Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) leader.

Observation Made By The Court

A bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande reserved its order on the pleas filed by Mihir Shah, the main accused in the hit-and-run case at Worli, and his driver Rajrishi Bidawat challenging their “illegal arrests”. They sought to be released immediately saying the police failed to comply with Section 50 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Under the provision, the police have to communicate to the accused the full particulars of the offence for which s/he is being arrested or other grounds for such arrest.

During the hearing, the court said while it was aware of the law and judgments passed by the Supreme Court on this issue, it wondered whether an accused can claim that his arrest is “vitiated” in such a hit-and-run case where they were apprehended red-handed and there were eyewitnesses.

“The accident has taken place... the persons have been apprehended red-handed then why should the issue of grounds of arrest crop up? The lady was rammed into. The car was there. The accused was in such a hurry that he forgot his fastag card at the Bandra Worli sea link toll,” the court said.

Questioning the empty formality, the court said: “How can it be said that the arrest is vitiated only because grounds of arrest were not informed? According to us, it is an empty formality.” It added that facts and circumstances of each case are different and hence need to be dealt with accordingly.

A Test Case

Terming the case as a test case, the judges said: “This is a testing case for us. In a scenario where the chain of circumstances clearly establishes the case… what is the propriety of informing the grounds of arrest to the accused.”

The court will pass the order on Shah’s and Bidawat’s petitions on November 21. “We are not going to touch the merits of the case. We are only on whether the necessity of mentioning the grounds of arrest was required or not,” the court added.

About The Worli Hit-And-Run Case

On July 7, Shah rammed his BMW car into a two-wheeler in Worli, killing Kaveri Nakhwa (45) and leaving her husband Pradeep injured. Kaveri was dragged under the car for over 1.5 km before the car was stopped and her body removed from under the car. Shah, son of Eknath-Shinde-led Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Shah, was arrested two days later.

Shah fled from the scene and was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time, as per police.

Along with Shah, his father Rajesh Shah and his driver Rajrishi Bidawat have been arrested in the case. Mihir Shah and Bidawat are presently in judicial custody. Rajesh Shah was later released on bail.