No open gate for everyone to appeal: HC on Malegaon blast case
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Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said it was "not an open gate for everyone" to file an appeal against acquittal in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, and sought details if family members of the victims were examined as witnesses in the trial, PTI reported.
A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad 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 HC bench on Tuesday sought to know if the family members were examined as witnesses in the trial.
The family members' advocate told the bench that the first appellant, Nisar Ahmed, whose son died in the blast, was not a witness in the trial, but said he would submit the details on Wednesday.
The bench then said that if the appellant's son died in the blast, then he (Nisar Ahmed) should have been a witness.
"You (appellants) have to indicate whether they were witnesses or not. Give us details. This is not an open gate for everyone," HC said.
The court posted the matter for further hearing on Wednesday.
The appeal filed last week said that a faulty investigation or some defects in the probe cannot be the ground 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.