MCOCA charges against Pune serial blasts accused dropped

Giving reprieve to a 2012 Pune serial blast accused, a Special Court today dropped the charges slapped on him under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
Sayed Feroz was charged under MCOCA, a stringent anti- organised crime law, and also Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) by Maharashtra ATS, for his alleged role in the terror attack.
"The court dropped the MCOCA charges from Sayed Feroz after we argued that the ATS' move to invoke both MCOCA as well as Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against him was bad in law," defence advocate Mehmood Pracha said.
Both Acts cannot be applied together in a case, he maintained.

The Special MCOCA Court, however, stayed its order to allow the prosecution to challenge it in the Bombay High Court.
On August 1, 2012, four co-ordinated low-intensity explosions rocked the busy Junglee Maharaj Road in Pune. One person was injured in the blasts.
Besides Feroz, police have arrested seven other accused. ATS had filed a 3,857-page charge sheet on April 30 last year in connection with the blasts.