MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday adjourned by two weeks, hearing of an appeal filed by 2008 Malegaon blast accused Lt Col Prasad Purohit over the issue of legality of a prior prosecution sanction for terror charges.Purohit had moved SC against an HC's refusal to stay trial. Purohit’s plea is that he is being prosecuted for terror charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the 2008 Malegaon blast case without a valid sanction.The Supreme Court had on Monday said it did not consider it necessary to entertain his special leave petition (SLP) and instead had requested the HC to hear and decide the matter on the date fixed after being informed that the issue was to be considered on November 21.When the matter came up before a bench of Justices R M Savant and V K Jadhav, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) counsel Sandesh Patil pointed out that there were several other appeals connected with it. Purohit’s counsel Amit Ghag produced the SC order. The bench, however, said that since there were several matters, due to paucity of time, as Justice Savant is due to retire early next month, and posted it beyond two weeks.The special trial court meanwhile has yet to begin with examination of the first prosecution witness.On September 29, 2008, six people were killed when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon.Purohit, currently on bail, had moved the SC a day after a special court in Mumbai framed terror charges against him under the UAPA.His appeal before the HC also challenges the refusal to drop all charges against him. There are appeals filed by co-accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur against dismissal of her discharge plea too. Another accused, Sameer Kulkarni too has his appeal before the HC.The HC had admitted Purohit’s appeal on October 29 while Sadhvi’s appeal was admitted on August 27 and Kulkarni's on September 3.The HC had declined his plea against the special NIA trial court order which said that the prosecution sanction’s legality could be tested during the trial and not before. The HC had, on October 29, while rejecting Purohit’s plea to stay proceedings, taken into account its own order of October 22 when it had directed the trial court to conduct the trial on a day to day basis in conformity with earlier orders passed by the SC.His contention is that the HC had earlier noted that his appeal raised ‘arguable questions’. If the UAPA prior sanction is quashed it would mean that the terror charges would be dropped against him. Purohit has maintained that as a serving army officer with a meritorious record, he was engaged with intelligence gathering and had kept his superiors in the loop of all his actions. He has denied the allegation of conspiracy to commit a terror attack.

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