Mumbai: Eleven journalists from various news media organisations have approached the special court to oppose the application filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to prohibit the press from covering/reporting proceedings in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case.
The special court has ordered NIA and all the seven accused in the case, including BJP’s Pragya Thakur to file their replies in response to the plea filed by the journalists.
The case pertains to the blasts which killed six persons in Malegaon city on Sept 29, 2008, for which Thakur along with Lt. Col. SP Purohit and five other right-wing extremists are facing trial.
The intervention applications were filed before special Judge Vinod Padalkar, who after perusing the plea said, “in the interest of justice and for a fair trial, I believe all the parties (NIA and accused) must file their say in the matter.”
Two of these 11 journalists are from The Free Press Journal – Neeta Kolhatkar and Narsi Benwal, who have sought intervention through noted advocates Rizwan Merchant and Gayatri Gokhale.
The scribes claimed NIA’s move can become a major roadblock in the discharge of duties, to which they are bound by virtue of their occupation.