Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal, a victim and father of a man who died in the 2008 Malegaon blast, moved the Bombay High Court on Tuesday to intervene in a plea filed by accused Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit seeking to quash all charges against him.
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Mr. Bilal was represented by former additional solicitor general B.A. Desai who filed an application to be impleaded as a party in Mr. Purohit’s petition filed in September. Former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, who was appearing for Mr. Purohit, opposed the application.
Mr. Rohatgi argued before a Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and M.S. Karnik, and said quashing of charges were sought because the National Investigation Agency (NIA) did not seek prior sanction to prosecute him as per Section 197 (prosecution of Judges and public servants) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
He said since the plea was on procedural ground it did not warrant any intervention by the victims. Mr. Bilal’s application said that he had lost his son in the blast and therefore, he was an aggrieved party in the case who deserved to be heard.
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The matter was adjourned to November 25.
Mr. Rohatgi had previously contended that Mr. Purohit was an army officer and was discharging his official duty by gathering intelligence. He said sanction to prosecute Mr. Purohit had to be taken before taking cognisance of the offence.
Mr. Rohatgi had previously challenged sanction to prosecute Mr. Purohit under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Mr. Purohit has been charged with murder, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony under relevant sections of the Arms Act, the Indian Explosive Substance Act, and the UAPA.
The chargesheet filed by the NIA relied upon the statement of a prosecution witness that said, “Mr. Purohit gave him three weapons and ammunition to be kept in his house for a month sometime in 2006. The description of the weapons was also dictated to him. He saw RDX in the house of Mr. Purohit in a green sack at Devlali and that Mr. Purohit confessed to him (the witness) about having supplied RDX for the Samjhauta Express blast.”