2008 Malegaon blast: Bombay HC asks NIA court for fortnightly report on trial

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THE BOMBAY High Court on Wednesday asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court to submit a fortnightly report on progress made in the 2008 Malegaon blasts trial in which BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit are named as accused.
The High Court also asked the NIA to ensure that at least two witnesses are present for examination for each hearing at the special court “so that the precious time of the Court is not wasted, more particularly, when the Court is seized with only the present case”.
The High Court also asked the NIA special court judge to take all steps to ensure that “trial concludes expeditiously” and suggested that bailable warrants can be issued against witnesses who do not appear.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and V G Bisht passed these directions while hearing a plea by Sameer Kulkarni, an accused in the case, who alleged that some of the other accused were deliberately delaying the trial.
The High Court bench also asked advocate Sandesh Patil, appearing for NIA, to submit a record of daily proceedings of the trial for a month on August 1, the next date of hearing, so that the High Court can monitor the progress.
The directions were passed after the bench perused a status report submitted by the NIA special court.
“We will keep it (the hearing) after three weeks. We have called for a fortnightly report to examine how the witnesses are being examined. We will also see from the Roznama (daily proceedings) to see how witnesses are being examined on a day-to-day basis. We will know who is taking time, why is the trial being adjourned and if a warrant has been issued against witnesses or not,” the High Court bench said.
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