Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday, March 31, refused to grant any interim stay in the ongoing trial in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case while hearing a petition filed by Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, an accused in the case.
A division bench of Justices P.B. Varale and S.M. Modak refused to stay the trial, observing that the process had already reached midway.
“The trial is already midway with many witnesses already produced. We are not at all inclined towards passing any order which will block the trial,” the court said.
The bench noted that so far, the prosecution has examined over 245 people and around 100 remained to be examined by the special court in the city that is conducting the trial. As of March 30, as many as 20 witnesses were declared hostile by the prosecution in the case.
The high court’s observations came while hearing a request for interim stay on the trial made by Purohit’s advocate, M.R. Venkatesh.
I am seeking a stay on the trial, said Venkatesh. But before he could continue, the judges stopped him and said they were not inclined to stay the trial.
Venkatesh was arguing on Purohit’s behalf on a plea challenging the validity of the sanction granted by the government to prosecute him under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the case.
The high court will hear the plea on the issue of sanction further on June 21.
Six people were killed and over 100 injured after an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque at Malegaon in North Maharashtra, about 200 kilometres from Mumbai, on September 29, 2008. All the seven accused in the case are currently out on bail.
This article first appeared on thewire.in