Malegaon case: Jolt for Sadhvi, Purohit

No stay on framing of charges in NIA court

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the framing of charges against the Hindu right-wing activists who are arraigned as accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case. The high court’s order rejecting the plea is a setback for the accused – Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur, Colonel SP Purohit and Sameer Kulkarni. They had moved the division bench of Justices Sambhaji Shinde and Mridula Bhatkar, seeking a stay on framing of charges.The special National Investigation Agency court is expected to proceed with the framing charges on Wednesday. To back their contention, the accused, especially Col Purohit, cited his challenge to the ‘sanction’ by the Maharashtra government to prosecute him under the Unlawful Activities Act (UAPA), which is pending before another bench.

The bench however decided to give precedence to orders of the Supreme Court, which has specifically directed the special NIA court to ‘expedite’ the trial.“Since the Supreme Court has directed that the trial be expedited before the special court, it may not be appropriate to stay the trial. However, before framing the charge, the special court is bound to consider the Supreme Court orders in April, this year, asking it to consider and decide the objection to sanction of the UAPA and then proceed further,” the bench said. Accordingly, the bench paved the way for the NIA court to proceed with framing of charges against all the accused in the case.Now, the NIA court is likely to commence hearing arguments on the challenge to the sanction to prosecute them under the UAPA and then decide if the anti-terrorism law can be invoked against all of them or not. Only then will the court proceed with framing of the charges.