Today, on 11 September 2015, the Supreme Court issued notice to the central government and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a PIL seeking to bring back Ms. Rohini Salian as special prosecutor in Malegaon bomb blast case. The Supreme Court also sought response on the public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a probe into the allegations that she was pressurised to go slow in the case.
This notice was issued by a bench of Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre. Senior counsel Kapil Sibal appeared on behalf of the petitioner Harsh Mander. Sibal informed the court that the accused were being granted bail without any opposition by the investigating agency, i.e., the NIA. The notice on the petition, also by Nisar Ahmed, has also been issued to Maharashtra government and is returnable in a week.
As Sibal told the court that accused were being granted bail without following the procedure, the court said that it may cancel the bail in that case. The counsel for the accused urged the court to make accused a party in the matter.
It is noteworthy that the former bureaucrat-turned-social activist Harsh Mander has moved the apex court seeking that Rohini Salian, who had stepped down as special prosecutor in Malegaon case allegedly involving some Hindu groups, be brought back to lead the prosecution. He has also sought probe into the allegations that Rohini Salian was asked by the NIA to go slow in the case, an allegation denied by the investigating agency.
Mander in his PIL, while referring to an earlier interview by Rohini Salian, wherein she had alleged that she was pressured by the NIA to go soft in the Malegaon case has sought court’s intervention for a fair trial. The PIL has alleged that NIA was acting under the instructions of its political masters. It is pertinent to mention that this PIL relates to Malegaon blasts that occurred in 2008, that claimed 6 lives and left more than 100 injured.
