2008 Malegaon bomb blast: Victim’s father urges HC to cancel trial judge’s transfer

The father of a victim in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast has requested the Chief Justice of Bombay high court to cancel the transfer of special National Investigation Agency court judge PR Sitre, who is presiding over the trial in the case

The father of a victim in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast has requested the Chief Justice of Bombay high court to cancel the transfer of special National Investigation Agency court judge PR Sitre, who is presiding over the trial in the case.

Local residents and police personnel clear debris at a blast site in Malegaon. Reuters File Photo

In a letter to the Chief Justice through his lawyer, advocate Shahid Nadeem, 62-year-old Nisar Bilal said the special judge had examined 100 prosecution witnesses in the case.

“Judge PR Sitre is fully conversant with the record of the case. He has examined over 100 witnesses in the last one year and four months. Any new presiding officer, who will be posted, would take time to peruse the record which runs into thousands of pages,” the letter said.

The case had a chequered history with litigations arising out of the trial which were pending before the trial court, the high court, and the Supreme Court, where several questions of law were yet to be decided, it said. “Two investigating agencies have filed chargesheets which run into thousands of pages. Judge PR Sitre is already privy to the complexity of the matter and the proceedings of the present matter.”

Bilal also said, “The undersigned victim, along with other sufferers of the blast, have had full faith in the judiciary of the country and believe that although justice has been delayed, it will not be denied to them. It is requested that the tenure of the present presiding judge, PR Sitre, may be extended till the completion of the trial.”

The letter added that 246 prosecution witnesses had been examined so far, and not many were left to be examined.