A community’s sentiments against an accused cannot be a criterion for denying him bail, the Supreme Court said, granting bail to Malegaon blasts accused Lt. Col. Shrikant Prasad Purohit. It also noted that the trial will “likely” take a long time and the accused has already been behind bars as an undertrial for over eight years.
A Bench of Justices R.K. Agrawal and A.M. Sapre said there are material disparities in the conclusions on Lt. Col. Purohit’s involvement arrived at earlier in the Malegaon blasts case by the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and later on in the supplementary charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The court gave credence to Lt. Col. Purohit’s case that he is a serving Army officer involved in counter-intelligence operations and was a mole for the Military Intelligence who had infiltrated right wing organisations.
The judgment mentions that Lt. Col. Purohit claimed to have leaked intelligence inputs to his superiors. He had alleged that the ATS officials had framed him by planting RDX explosives in the house of another accused Sudhakar Chaturvedi.
The court said these were fresh revelations in the case which has compelled the Bench to look at his case in a fresh light and made this bail application quite different from the earlier ones which had been declined by courts previously.
“The grant or denial is regulated, to a large extent, by the facts and circumstances of each particular case. But at the same time, right to bail is not to be denied merely because of the sentiments of the community against the accused,” Justice Agrawal, who authored the judgment, observed.
The court said it does not have to consider elaborately the facts, evidence and merits of a case while deciding bail. But the circumstance that Lt. Col. Purohit has spent eight years and eight months in jail as an undertrial and the material contradictions in the charge sheets arm him with a strong case for re-gaining personal liberty.
Maintaining a balance
“Liberty of a citizen is undoubtedly important but this is to balance with the security of the community. A balance is required to be maintained between the personal liberty of the accused and the investigational rights of the agency. It must result in minimum interference with the personal liberty of the accused and the right of the agency to investigate the case,” the court explained its delicate judicial task. The bail comes with stringent conditions, including the furnishing of personal security of ₹1 lakh with two sureties.
Lt. Col. Purohit was also directed to appear in court as and when directed; he shall make himself available for any further investigation/interrogation by the NIA as and when required. Lt. Col. Purohit shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person involved in the case.
The Bombay High Court had in April 25 granted bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, accused of plotting the September 2008 Malegaon blast, but rejected the bail plea of Lt. Col. Purohit, saying his charges were grave.
The High Court had refused to accept his contention that he had attended the meetings as part of a “covert military intelligence operation.”
He had argued that the National Investigative Agency (NIA), who probed the case, was “selective” in exonerating some accused persons and that the agency made him a “scapegoat” in the case.
Six persons were killed and nearly 100 others injured when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle had exploded in Malegaon town of Nashik district on September 29, 2008. Sadhvi Pragya and 44-year-old Purohit were arrested along with others in the case.
