The father of a victim of the 2008 Malegaon blasts has made a plea before a special court assigned to conduct the case to direct the prosecution to summon witnesses and said that the prosecution has shown "no intent" to call witnesses.
“The trial commenced 10 years after the date of incident and it is still pending before the honourable court. Victims (are) awaiting justice,” the plea by 59-year-old Malegaon resident Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal said.
The plea filed through his advocates Sharif Shaikh and Shahid Nadeem further stated that since the retirement of the predecessor and pending the notification for appointment of a new judge to conduct the trial, no witnesses could be examined.
Further, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the trial was delayed by seven to eight months. It pointed out that the Bombay High Court as well as the apex court has on many occasions directed day-to-day proceedings and expedition of the trial.
The plea said that now that the lockdown restrictions have been eased from time to time and the state government has allowed inter-city travel and use of local transport, witnesses may be called for recording of their evidence at the earliest.
Till date, 140 witnesses have been examined by the prosecution in the case. In the blast that took place on 29 September, 2008 in Malegaon, six persons had been killed and 101 injured. Among the accused is BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit.
