New Delhi, March 30, 2023 (PPI-OT): The Supreme Court of India has dismissed a petition by Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, an accused in the Malegaon 2008 blast that contested a Bombay High Court order. The SC stated that it found “no reason to interfere with the same” in denying a petition submitted by Lt Col Prasad Purohit. The appeal was briefly considered by the justices Hrishikesh Roy and Manoj Misra on Monday before being dismissed. The bench took notice that Purohit was contesting the high court’s ruling that the petitioner does not require a sanction under Section 197(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code because his alleged actions had nothing to do with any of his official duties.
“Having noted the basis of the impugned judgment, we see no reason to interfere with the same and accordingly, the Special Leave Petition is not entertained,” said the bench. Purohit’s lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and Viral Babar informed the bench that the trial against Purohit is ongoing and that, as a result, the observation made in the challenged order to examine the issue of sanction should not be viewed as prejudicial to either the prosecution or the defence in the proceedings before the trial court.
“With the above order, the Special Leave Petition stands dismissed,” the bench said. Earlier the Bombay High Court had said, “If the contention of Purohit, that he was directed to perform official duty to gather information regarding ‘Abhinav Bharat’, is to be accepted, then the question remains to be answered: Why he did not avert the bomb blast in the civilian locality of Malegaon, which caused loss of life of six innocent persons and severe to grievous injuries to about 100 persons. Even otherwise, indulging in the activity of a bomb explosion, causing the death of six people, is not an act done by Purohit in his official duty.”
Purohit has petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn this order.
Lt Col Purohit was not performing his official duties as an officer of the Indian army while he attended meetings of the Abhinav Bharat Group, as claimed by the NIA, according to a division bench of the Bombay High Court. Purohit filed a petition with the High Court questioning the legality of the government’s order to pursue him in the case under the strict Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge had previously rejected his request to be dismissed from the investigation.
Malegaon Blast
On September 29, 2008, a motorcycle-mounted explosive device detonated in Malegaon, a communally sensitive town in Maharashtra’s Nashik area, killing six people and wounding more than 100. According to the NIA, the LML Freedom motorcycle used in the Ramzan blast, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, was registered in BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur’s name.
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