Bombay HC Allows 2008 Malegaon Blast Victim To Intervene In Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit's Plea Challenging Prosecution Without Obtaining Prior Sanction

The Bombay High Court on Friday allowed an intervention application filed by Nisar Ahmed Haji Sayed Bilal, a victim of the 2008 Malegaon blast who also lost his son in the blast, in the writ petition filed by accused Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit challenging the sanction granted to prosecute him as an accused in the case.Division bench of Justice SS Shinde and Justice MS Karnik had reserved the order in the application on Wednesday after hearing both parties.Senior Advocate BA Desai appeared on behalf of the applicant victim and submitted a catena of judgments asserting the right of the victim to be heard in this case. He also informed the Court that he had been allowed to intervene before the trial court as well as other matters before the Supreme Court related to the same case.Previously, arguing on behalf of Purohit in his plea, former Attorney General of India Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi had submitted that gross injustice had been done to his client, who was merely discharging his duty. He said-"He was infiltrating 'these groups' on behalf of the military intelligence branch and no prior sanction to prosecute Lt Col Purohit was taken before the cognizance of offence was taken. After being released on bail he was reinstated in service. Whatever he was doing, he was simply discharging his duty."Advocate Neela Gokhale appeared along with Sr Adv Rohatgi for the accused. The sanction to prosecute Lt Col Purohit was granted on January 17, 2009 by the then Maharashtra government. On September 29, 2008, a bomb explosion took place at Bhiku Chowk, Malegaon, Maharashtra, killing six people and injuring over a hundred. Apart from Sameer Kulkarni, BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Thakur, Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, Major (Retd.) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahilkar and Sudhakar Chaturvedi are accused in the case and have been charged with murder, abetment and conspiracy for the blast.NIA informed the High Court in the previous hearing that the trial is set to resume on a day to day basis in December. Moreover, out of the 400 witnesses, 140 have been examined. The trial got stalled as the presiding judge was transferred and the new judge was not able to take charge because of Covid-19.

Bombay HC Allows 2008 Malegaon Blast Victim To Intervene In Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit's Plea Challenging Prosecution Without Obtaining Prior Sanction

Nitish Kashyap

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