HC issues notice on appeal against Malegaon blast case acquittals

The Bombay high court on Thursday issued notice to former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and others on the appeal of families of the victims of the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast against their acquittal. A special NIA court on July 31 acquitted all seven accused in the case.

A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam A Ankhad directed the appellant’s counsel to serve the notices and take necessary steps within two weeks. It scheduled the matter for hearing next after six weeks.

A bomb ripped through a crowded intersection in Malegaon on September 29, 2008, killing six people and injuring 95 others. The special court highlighted contradictions and procedural lapses of the investigating agencies as it acquitted all seven accused.

The families of those killed in the blast moved the high court on September 8 against the acquittals. In their plea through advocate Mateen Shaikh, they argued that the trial court disregarded important forensic and witness evidence, the conspiracy angle, and gave undue weight to hostile witnesses.

“Six precious lives were lost, and this manner of rejection of evidence, as well as non-production of important materials by the prosecution, ought not to have been permitted by the trial court,” the plea said. “The trial court is not supposed to act only as a post office but to ensure the eliciting of truth.”