‘Cops must be more proactive to stop bail for career criminals’

MUMBAI: As more details emerge of the rape of a Spanish woman and the series of robberies in Bandra in the wee hours of Monday, the question that everyone is asking is why was the arrested accused, Anwar Mohammed Ansari, a 28-year-old career criminal, able to get bail time and again.
Ansari had over 20 cases against him, including a molestation and house-break one in 2008 for trying to rape a Chinese in her Khar flat and, in 2011, a robbery in the Worli house of former minister Rohidas Patil.Shockingly, he was arrested last week for a robbery at actor Dino Morea’s house, thanks to a tracker on a cellphone he had stolen. The loot worth Rs 12 lakh was recovered. Yet, he was out on bail within a few days and on November 5, attacked the Spanish woman.
Legal experts say when it comes to bail, the police, the judiciary and law-makers need to distinguish between an offender and a criminal. “A criminal lives off crime. All criminals are offenders, but all offenders are not criminals. It’s for the police to point out to the judge at the time of bail that the accused is a professional criminal,” said veteran crime law counsel Shrikant Bhat.
A more concrete response lies in ensuring that the police speed up chargesheets and trial begins early so that repeat offenders or those who committed heinous crimes and are a threat to society can be put away in jail, said prominent crime and constitutional law counsel Amit Desai. “In cases like burglaries in which the same offender is caught again and again, the police slip up in not filing simpler chargesheets within the minimum possible days to ensure trials are shorter and speedier. When cases remain pending for long, the courts are bound to grant bail”
Another serial criminal Vijay Palande, who had been involved in serious crimes like murder, had got bail after the police failed to highlight his criminal past and the fact that he had jumped parole. The result: he is accused of murdering film producer Karankumar Kakkar and Delhi-based businessman Arunkumar Tikku while on bail.
“It has been the experience for most lawyers that the police do not brief the prosecutors adequately on the criminal background of the accused. It is also true that some prosecutors are unprepared. Often, the chargesheet is not filed within 90 days and, under the law, the accused then has to be freed on bail on technical grounds,” said advocate Bhat.
Another effective step not taken against Ansari is externment. A habitual criminal can be externed from Mumbai under Section 56 the Bombay Police Act, 1951, by the police commissioner, said Bhat. He added that under another section, the state government can extern professional criminals.