[Malegaon Blast] Bombay High Court allows victim to intervene in plea filed by Lt Col Purohit

The Bombay High Court today allowed an application by Nisar Ahmed Haji Sayed Bilal, a victim in the Malegaon blast case, in the plea moved by Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, one of the accused in the case..The Bench of Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik opined that there would be no prejudice caused to Purohit if the intervention is allowed. They directed for necessary amendments to be carried out forthwith..Bilal had sought to intervene in the plea filed by Purohit for quashing the criminal proceedings against him..Bilal informed the court that he had been allowed to intervene in the trial proceedings before the Special National Investigation Agency Court at Mumbai. .He added that he was also allowed to be made a party in the bail applications filed by the several accused of the Malegaon case including Purohit before the Special Court and High Court..Through Senior Advocate BA Desai with Advocate Kritika Agarwal, he prayed that his rights and role as a victim ought to be considered by the Court in criminal proceedings. .Relying on statues and case laws, his lawyers argued that the rights of the victims were upheld by the Court by allowing the victim to intervene in proceedings filed by the accused. .Purohit on the other hand objected to such intervention by the victim though his lawyer, Advocate Neela Gokhale. .Gokhale pointed out that Purohit's plea before the High Court seeks to challenge the action of NIA to charge him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) without prior sanction of the Central Government as per Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. .She added that Purohit is presently a member of the Armed forces and was discharging his duty as an army officer even when NIA had charged him with the offences under the provisions of the UA(P)A. .She argued that the limited issue on which his plea will be argued before the High Court is whether NIA had procured prior sanction from the Central Government or not, which only the NIA could answer. .She further argued that Bilal who claims to be the victim, is neither an important nor a necessary party as he would not be in a position to assist or contribute to the Court on the issues raised in the plea..She concluded that his intervention application is only an abuse of the process of law filed with an intention to delay in the hearing of Purohit's plea..After a brief hearing, the Court had directed the parties to submit their written arguments, if required, and reserved the matter for orders..[Read order]