HC says ‘no effective progress’ made in 2008 Malegaon case

MUMBAI:THE Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday said there has been “no effective progress” in 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case in which BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur is an accused. Thakur is out on bail.

The division bench of acting chief justice BP Dharmadhikari and justice NR Borkar was hearing an application filed by Samir Kulkarni, another accused in the case. Kulkarni had complained that despite a number of orders passed by the apex court and the HC, advocates of some of the accused were seeking adjournments on flimsy grounds and are thus unnecessarily and deliberately delaying the trial. He said the prosecution, fellow accused and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is handling the probe, are delaying the proceedings.

He had also pointed out that section 19 of the NIA Act, 2008, mandates the trials in all cases handled by the NIA be conducted on a day-to-day basis, so that trials are concluded swiftly.

But only 14 witnesses were examined in the past six months, he said.

In January 2019, the high courthad asked the NIA court’s judge to submit reports in sealed cover if any person was not cooperating with the trial court. After going through two reports submitted by the trial court on Tuesday, the HC said, “Prima facie, we find that there has been no effective progress in the trial as of now.”

The bench directed the NIA to explain why the trial was being prolonged, and adjourned the hearing to March 16. On September 29, 2008, a powerful bomb exploded outside a religious shrine in which six people were killed and about 100 others were injured. On October 23, 3008, Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested Thakur and two of her associates, the first arrests in the case. On January 20, 2009, ATS filed a chargesheet in the case after completing its probe. On April 1, 2011, the Centre transferred further probe into the case to NIA. The HC gave bail to Thakur in April 2017. All her fellow accused are also out on bail.