The case has drawn considerable debate in legal circles because this is for the first time that gangsters, who pose a threat to the lives of others, are themselves pleading for protection from the State.

Underworld don Arun Gawli and Ramesh Sharma, both of whom have criminal antecedents, have moved the high court against the State Government's decision to reject their pleas for protection.

Gawli, who has been externed from Mumbai for two years, has contended that he feared a threat to his life from rival gangster Dawood Ibrahim who is now holed up in Karachi and believed to be controlling underworld operations from there.

Even Sharma, a film producer and alleged close aide of underworld fugitive Chhota Rajan, has prayed that he feared Dawood's men would liquidate him.

Both argued that under Article 21 of the Constitution of India they have the right to life and liberty and the State was duty-bound to provide them police escorts at their own individual cost.

The State Government, on the other hand, has pleaded that it is their policy not to provide protection to persons having criminal record. Both Gawli and Sharma have been detained earlier for various crimes and hence their plea for security had not been accepted.

Advocate General C J Sawant argued that providing police guards to criminals will give a wrong impression to the common man and there was likelihood of their misusing the security.

Sawant submitted that although both were prepared to meet expenses for security, they did not have any fundamental right to get such a facility. The police have a duty to protect the lives of the common man and not criminals, he said.

He clarified that the State would provide security only when they perceive a threat to law and order or receive specific information about imminent danger to someone's life. In such cases, even Gawli and Sharma would be protected. But the State was not under any obligation to protect the lives of the duo.

Gawli's counsel, Ramrao Adik and P M Pradhan, argued that his client's apprehension about threat to his life was based on news reports about Dawood gangsters striking terror in the notorious Dagdi chawl owned by the former. Gawli's wife and mother had forwarded a representation to the government which had turned down their plea.

They said that Article 21 guaranteed right to life and liberty not only to citizens but also to non-citizens. On this basis the Supreme Court had ordered protection for the Chakma tribe from Bangladesh. The apex court had also allowed protection for members belonging to Arunachal Pradesh Students Union, they said.