The Supreme Court recently dismissed an appeal filed by Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit seeking discharge in connection with the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast, which killed six people and injured more than 100.
A bench comprising Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Manoj Misra refused to intervene in the Bombay High Court’s dismissal of Purohit’s plea.
However, the apex court, clarified that the trial court should not be influenced by observations in the High Court’s order.
” … the Special Leave Petition is not entertained. However, as we are informed that the trial against the petitioner is continuing, the observation made in the impugned order for the purpose of examining the issue of sanction should not prejudice either the prosecution or the defence, in the proceedings before the trial court. With the above order, the Special Leave Petition stands dismissed,” the order stated.
Purohit, a serving army officer, was charged in the 2008 Malegaon blasts after it was discovered that he had attended meetings of a group called Abhinav Bharat, where the conspiracy for the blasts was hatched.
The Lieutenant Colonel initially sought discharge in a lower court, claiming that the Central Government had not obtained proper authorization to prosecute a serving army officer.
He then went to the High Court after his appeal was denied.
Purohit sought discharge on two grounds:
First, he had been attending meetings despite informing his superiors about them. He claimed to have been on duty at the time.
Secondly, as he was a serving officer, the prosecution agency was required to obtain sanction from the appropriate authorities, which they had not done.
On January 2, a division bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice PD Naik ruled that Purohit was not on duty when he attended Abhinav Bharat meetings and dismissed the discharge plea.
The Lieutenant Colonel then filed the current appeal before the apex court.
