The Supreme Court has recently dismissed Sameer Kulkarni's plea challenging the validity of the sanction for his prosecution in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case. Kulkarni, one of the accused in the case, argued that the sanction to prosecute him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was improperly granted.
On Tuesday, a bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar announced its decision, indicating that it would not interfere with the Bombay High Court's previous order which had also rejected Kulkarni's plea.
The High Court had upheld an earlier decision by the NIA court, which had dismissed Kulkarni’s objections regarding the court’s competence to conduct the trial without a valid sanction.
The Supreme Court's decision follows an earlier order from April 30, which had temporarily stayed the proceedings against Kulkarni in the special court. Kulkarni had challenged the validity of the sanction, claiming that the process used to obtain it was flawed and that the trial court lacked the authority to proceed without a proper sanction under Section 45(2) of the UAPA.
Kulkarni’s petition argued that the trial should not have commenced and that any proceedings undertaken were essentially futile and without jurisdiction. He claimed that this situation was infringing upon his rights and causing unnecessary harassment.
The plea was filed against a June 28, 2023 order from the Bombay High Court, which had confirmed the NIA court’s April 24, 2023 ruling. This ruling had already determined that the trial could proceed despite Kulkarni's objections regarding the sanction's validity.
Kulkarni, along with six other accused, including BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, is on trial for his alleged involvement in the Malegaon blast that occurred on September 29, 2008.
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