The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal filed by Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit on March 27, seeking his discharge in the 2008 Malegaon blast case
A bench comprising of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Manoj Misra refused to interfere with a Bombay High Court ruling which had dismissed Purohit’s plea.
The Apex court, said that the trial court should not be influenced by observations in the High Court’s order.
The Court clearly said that the Special Leave Petition is not entertained.
It further added that as they were aware of the continuing trial against the petitioner ,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.
Purohit, a serving army officer, has been accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, after it was fund that he had attended meetings of a group called Abhinav Bharat where the conspiracy for the blasts were hatched.
Purohit initially moved a lower court seeking discharge on the ground that the Central government had not taken proper sanction to prosecute a serving army officer.
The same came to be rejected after which he approached the High Court.
He applied for discharge on two grounds:
– That he had been attending the meetings after informing his superiors about the same. He claimed to have been on duty while doing the same.
– That since he was a serving officer, the prosecution agency was required to obtain sanction from the requisite authorities, and they had obtained an improper sanction.