by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Bombay High Court
Mumbai : The Bombay High Court on Tuesday declined to stay a lower court order for framing of charges in a case against Lt. Col. Srikant P. Purohit and 13 other accused in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blast.
Purohit had challenged the decision of the lower court in the high court, seeking a stay on the framing of charges on September 5, the critical pre-trial process in the case.
On August 29, Special Judge Vinod Padalkar of the NIA Special Court had ruled that charges would be framed against Purohit and the remaining 13 accused in the Malegaon case.
Besides challenging the Special Court order, Purohit also sought a stay on the proceedings until the court finally decided on the applicability of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, under which all the 14 main accused, among them Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur, have been charged, besides provisions of the Indian Penal Code and other laws.
He also questioned the sanction granted by the Maharashtra government in January 2009, for his prosecution and the dismissal of his plea seeking a discharge from the case by the Special Court in December 2017.
The development came exactly 10 years after a powerful low-intensity bomb planted on a motorcycle ripped through a crowded Muslim-majority locality of Malegaon town in Nashik, on September 29, 2008, killing seven and injuring over 100 people.
Purohit, who was granted bail in 2017 after spending nine years in custody, is currently posted at the Military Station in Colaba, south Mumbai.
The 14 accused (including Purohit) are: a former Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur, a self-proclaimed seer, Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey, Rakesh Dhawde, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Pravin Takalki, Shivnarayan Kalsangra, Shyam Sahu, Ajay Rahirkar, and Jagdish Mhatre, besides two absconders, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : A Supreme Court Judge on Monday recused from hearing a plea by Malegaon bomb blast case accused Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit for a judicial probe into his alleged abduction and torture by investigating agencies.
As the matter was called, a bench comprising Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit directed for the listing of the matter before another bench as Justice Lalit recused himself.
Blaming the then UPA government for his implication in an alleged terror plot and eight-year-long incarceration for “personal political gains”, the petitioner contended that as a consequence a “source network developed meticulously by him and other officers of the Indian Army was demolished”.
Purohit was granted bail by the Supreme Court on August 12, 2017.
He is the main accused in the Malegaon blast, which killed six persons in the Muslim-dominated powerloom town in Nashik district on September 29, 2008.
Purohit’s plea to seek a judicial probe into his alleged abduction and torture is based on revelation by former Home Ministry Joint Secretary R.V.S. Mani, in which he is said to have indicated that Purohit was “framed by some factions in the previous government for political reasons, including introducing a face of terror under the guise of ‘saffron terror’.”
Mani’s revelation, Purohit said, had shocked him as he had “finally understood his role, of being used as a pawn, in the larger scheme of political spectrum by selfish political interests.”
Mani, according to Purohit, had given interview to media houses and even written a book ‘The Hindu Terror — Insider Account of Ministry of Home Affairs 2006-2010’.
“In these circumstances, the perpetrators and schemers of such sinister modus operandi, compromising national security, are required to be identified and made accountable,” the petitioner said.
He pointed out that there was “complete subversion of the criminal justice system by the state itself, and there is credible reason to fear that a citizen of this country, no less than an officer of the Indian Army, can be abducted, brutally tortured, labelled a terrorist and put away for nine years without a trial.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday asked 2008 Malegaon bomb blast accused Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit to agitate his contention against the sanction given to prosecute him under an anti-terror law before the trial court hearing the case.
In a relief to Purohit, a bench of Justice R.K. Agrawal and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre said the issue can be raised before the trial court during the framing of charges in the case.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Purohit challenging the proceedings against him under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the absence of valid sanction from the competent authority.
On December 18, 2017, the Bombay High Court had dismissed the plea by Purohit. He then approached the apex court challenging the High Court order and the December 27, 2017 order of the Court of Special Judge under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and NIA Act.
The trial court in its 2017 order, while discharging Purohit of the offences under the MCOCA and the offences punishable under certain provisions of the UAPA, had decided to proceed against him under other provisions of the stringent act.
Purohit had contended in the High Court that no appropriate authority had been appointed by the Maharashtra government, as required under UAPA section, and so there was breach of mandatory requirement of the provision.
He had argued that under the UAPA, the state law and judiciary department, the sanctioning authority, has to seek a report from an appropriate authority. In his case, the sanction was given in January 2009 but the authority was appointed only in October 2010.
On January 17, 2009, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Maharashtra home department had accorded sanction to apply stringent provisions of the UAPA to the case.
The proceedings against him are in the absence of valid sanction from the competent authorities, and are thus a miscarriage of justice and bad in law, he added.
Section 45(1) and (2) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 say that no court will take cognizance of any offence without the previous sanction of the Central government or any officer authorised by the Central government in its behalf.
The offences for which prior sanction is required under said provisions include being a member of unlawful association, punishment for terrorist activities and offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation or supporting it.
The case against Purohit relates to 2008 Malegaon blast where six persons were killed and 101 injured when an improvised explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off at Malegaon, a town with sizable Muslim population in north Maharashtra’s Nashik district.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit (retired), the main accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast which killed seven people.
A bench of Justice R.K. Agrawal and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre granted conditional bail to Purohit asking him not to tamper with evidence.
Purohit had told the apex court that till date charges have not been framed against him while those under the MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) have already been dropped.
He told the court that he has been in jail for the past nine years and was entitled to bail.
Purohit has challenged the April 25 Bombay High Court order which granted bail to another accused, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, but rejected his plea.
At least seven persons were killed in the explosion in Malegaon in Nashik district on September 29, 2008.
The investigating agencies had earlier allegedly attributed the blast to right-wing group Abhinav Bharat.
—IANS
