No stay on trial: HC dismisses Purohit’s plea

The Bombay High Court (HC) on 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 P B Varale and S M Modak refused to stay the trial. “Many witnesses have already been produced in the case. 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 M R Venkatesh. “I am seeking stay on the trial,” the counsel said. But before he could continue, the judges stopped him and denied his plea. Venkatesh said that Purohit’s petition has been kept for final hearing. It has been listed for hearing on many occasions but it is not being heard, he argued.

Senior counsel B A 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 had claimed that no sanction was granted for his prosecution by the government and so the entire trial against Purohit was vitiated.

However Desai said that the 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.

In the 14-year-old case, 245 persons have been examined so far while other 100 are yet to be questioned