HC issues notice to NIA, 7 acquitted persons on appeal by victims’ kin 2008 Malegaon blast case

 

THE Bombay High Court on Thursday issued notices to the seven persons acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on an appeal filed by the family members of the victims. A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad also issued notices to the prosecution -- National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra Government -- and posted the appeal for hearing after six weeks.

 

The HC was hearing an appeal filed by the family members of the six persons who lost their lives in the blast against the acquittal judgment. The appeal challenged a special court judgment acquitting the seven accused in the case, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit. The appeal filed last week claimed that a faulty investigation or some defects in the probe cannot be the grounds for acquitting the accused. It also contended that the conspiracy (of the blast) was hatched in secrecy and hence, there cannot be direct evidence of it. The petitioners claimed the order passed by the special NIA court on July 31, acquitting the seven accused, was wrong and bad in law and hence deserved to be quashed.