2008 Malegaon blast: Journalists move Special Court against NIA plea for in-camera trial

Journalists covering the 2008 Malegaon Bomb Blast trial, on Monday filed an intervention application before National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court in Mumbai against NIA’s plea to make the trial in-camera..BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit are among the accused facing the trial in the 2008 Malegaon case. In-camera hearings bar the general public and the media from attending the case hearings or reporting on it..Eleven Journalists belonging to different newspapers, television Channels and news agencies filed an application through advocates Rizwan Merchant and Gayatri Gokhale, requesting that the Court hear them before hearing the NIA’s plea. The intervention application states,.“NIA has not complained or suggested that the witnesses are facing any form of threat or intimidation resulting in an unfair trial as the records of the proceedings are reported or published.”.The application states that the intervenors will ensure all measures to secure the identity and addresses of the witnesses in the Malegaon case. Further, it states,.“In case of complaints apprehending threat to the life of any witness, remedies under the Witness Protection Program can be employed & security / protection can be given to the witness. Therefore, gagging the media is not warranted in any circumstance.”.Earlier, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, one of the accused had filed an application in 2016 to make the proceedings in-camera. The Special Court had then partly allowed his application and restricted the in-camera proceedings to the framing of charges against him..In another instance, in 2017, a Special CBI judge in Mumbai had restricted media from reporting on the trial concerning the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati. The order of the CBI judge was, however, quashed and set aside by the Bombay High Court on February 4, 2018..“Press is the most powerful watchdog of the public interest,” the High Court had observed..Along with the intervention by journalists, special NIA judge VS Padalkar will also hear replies of respondents on a plea made by the NIA for in-camera trial on Tuesday..The NIA’s application for in-camera proceedings was filed under Section 17(1) of the NIA Act and 44 (1) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). It states,.“For maintaining harmony in the society, it is necessary to conduct in camera hearing and restrain publication of court proceedings.“.NIA to make plea for protection for 38 witnesses.On a related note, the Bombay High Court last week gave liberty to the NIA to file an application before Special Court to ensure police protection to 38 witnesses it wishes to examine..The counsel appearing for the NIA contended that the matter being sensitive, poses a threat to the witnesses in the case. It was argued that they need to be protected before they are examined..Of the total 475, the NIA had truncated names and statements of 186 witnesses. The prosecution has so far examined 124 witnesses..“Of these, 38 are most important and sensitive and thus we will be filing an application before the special court to grant protection to these witnesses,” Advocate Sandesh Patil submitted on behalf of the NIA..Last month, the High Court had directed the NIA to submit a list of witnesses in a sealed cover, after Lt Col Purohit filed an application for production of the non-truncated chargesheet. Purohit had filed a plea for the disclosure of the names of witnesses in the case as well. A Division Bench of Justices Indrajit Mahanty and AM Badar dealt with the plea..On July 22, the Bombay High Court directed the NIA to place on record the entire schedule for the prosecution case, with details of day to day proceedings within two weeks..In October last year, a Special Court framed charges against Purohit, BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, and other accused persons under the UAPA. Six people were killed and over 100 injured on September 29, 2008, when an explosive device placed on a motorbike went off near a mosque at Malegaon..Image taken from here.