The Bombay High Court Thursday refused to stay the trial in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case while hearing a petition by Lt Col Prasad Purohit, one of the prime accused in the case.
A division bench of justices PB Varale and SM Modak refused to stay the trial observing that the trial was midway. “The trial is already midway with many witnesses already produced. We are not at all inclined towards passing any order which will block the trial,” said justice Varale.
So far, the prosecution has examined over 245 persons and around 100 remain to be examined by the special court conducting the trial. As on March 30, 20 witnesses were declared hostile by the prosecution.
The HC remark came on a request by Purohit’s advocate MR Venkatesh. “I am seeking stay on the trial,” said Venkatesh. But before he could continue, the judges stopped him and said that they were not inclined to stay the trial.
Venkatesh said that Purohit’s petition has been kept for final hearing. It has been listed for hearing on many occasions and every time, Venkatesh comes from Delhi but it is not being heard.
Senior counsel BA Desai, appearing for one of the victims’ of the bomb blast, opposed the de-tagging of one of the petitions. Bunch of petitions and interim applications filed by some of the accused in the case were tagged to be heard together. Around seven different petitions and 10 applications have been filed between the period 2017 and 2021.
The petitions challenge the validity of the sanction granted by the government to prosecute the accused under the stringent UAPA, concerning secondary evidence filed by another accused and rejection of discharge pleas by the special court.
In February this year, a bench headed by justice Varale had de-tagged Purohit's plea in which he has claimed that no sanction was granted for his prosecution by government and so the entire trial against Purohit was vitiated.
However, Desai said that Purohit's petition arose from the same issue where discharge plea as well as other petitions regarding 2008 blast case were revolving around.
The HC has kept Purohit’s petition for hearing along with other petitions on June 21.
