Mumbai Mar 31 PTI The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to grant any interim stay on the ongoing trial in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast while hearing a petition filed by Lt Col Prasad Purohit an accused in the caseA division bench of Justices PB Varale and SM Modak refused to stay the trial observing the process had already reached midwayThe trial is already midway with many witnesses already produced We are not at all inclined towards passing any order which will block the trial the HC saidThe bench noted that so far the prosecution had examined over 245 people and around 100 remained to be examined by the special court in the city that is conducting the trialAs on March 30 as many as 20 witnesses were declared hostile by the prosecution in the caseThe HCs observations came on a request for interim stay on the trial made by Purohits advocate MR VenkateshI am seeking a stay on the trial said Venkatesh But before he could continue the judges stopped him and said they were not inclined to stay the trialVenkatesh was arguing on Purohits behalf on a plea challenging the validity of the sanction granted by the government to prosecute him under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in the caseThe HC will hear the plea on the issue of sanction further on June 21Six people were killed and over 100 injured after an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque at Malegaon in north Maharashtra about 200 kilometres from Mumbai on September 29 2008 All the seven accused in the case are currently out on bail PTI AYA RSY RSY

Mumbai Nov 24 PTI The Maharashtra government on Wednesday denied before the Bombay High Court the CBIs allegation that it was trying to obstruct the central agencys probe against Anil Deshmukh a former state home ministerSenior counsel Darius Khambata the states lawyer said it had nothing to do with DeshmukhThe state government has moved the court against the Central Bureau of Investigations summons to chief secretary Sitaram Kunte and Director General of Police Sanjay Pandey as part of the probe against DeshmukhI Maharashtra government am not concerned with him Please investigate him Go ahead and do whatever you want with him the lawyer saidKhambata made the argument while objecting to the CBIs decision to submit some material related to the probe in a sealed coverThe agency must submit everything in the open court he told a bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and S V KotwalKhambata also pointed out that when the Maharashtra government wanted to submit some documents related to IPS officer Rashmi Shuklas case in a sealed cover the high court asked it to make submissions in the open courtThe CBI is investigating allegations of corruption against Deshmukh after former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh accused him of asking police officials to collect money from bars and restaurantsIn September the CBI issued summons to chief secretary Kunte and DGP Pandey for questioning in connection with the probeThe Maharashtra government then moved the HC seeking that the summons be quashed as Kunte and Pandey had nothing to do with this probe The summons was a harassment tactic it allegedAdditional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi who appeared for the CBI said the CBI wanted to submit in a sealed envelop some material to show how the process of transfers and postings of police officers was interfered with and controlled by Deshmukh We want to show to the court how all the constraints and restraints of law were abandoned altogether Lekhi said These documents that the CBI wishes to submit are necessary to show the direction of the investigation the issuance of summons he saidKhambata said this had no bearing on the state governments petitionThe state seeks continuation of the investigation but under the supervision of this court he saidThe Union governments lawyer accused him of double speak This is double speak An Orwellian habit You say you want the investigation to go on and yet you fault the investigation Lekhi said The state claims to be not concerned with Deshmukh yet it alleges malafide and continues to be concerned with the investigation he addedThe arguments will continue on Thursday PTI AYA KRK KRK

Mumbai Nov 22 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday refused to impose a blanket injunction against Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik to restrain him from making any public statement or post tweets targeting NCB Zonal Director Sameer WankhedeJustice Madhav Jamdar however said prima facie on the face of it Maliks tweets against Wankhede had actuated out of malice and personal animosityHowever since Wankhede was a government officer and the allegations made against him by Malik pertained to activities related to the NCB Zonal Directors public duties the minister couldnt be completely prohibited from making any statements against him the judge saidThe minister however henceforth must make statements against Wankhede or his family only after reasonable verification of facts the HC saidThe HCs judgement came on an interim prayer for such an injunction sought by Wankhedes father DnyandevMalik has been alleging that Sameer Wankhede currently posted in Mumbai was born a Muslim and had secured a central government job claiming to belong to a Scheduled CasteWankhedes father Dnyandev had filed a defamation suit against Malik earlier this month in the HC seeking among other things that the minister be restrained from posting defamatory statements against him and his family on social mediaDnyandev Wankhede has also sought damages worth Rs 125 croreSameer Wankhede and his family have repeatedly denied all allegations made by the state minister PTI AYA RSY RSY

Mumbai Sep 29 PTI The Bombay High Court has upheld an order of the Pune sessions court passed in 2011 convicting and sentencing three men to life imprisonment in a gang-rape case but made critical comments against defence lawyers and the judge in the caseIn an order passed on September 28 a bench of Justices Sadhana Jadhav and Sarang Kotwal while upholding the conviction and life term made some strong observations on the conduct of defence lawyers and the judge in the case particularly during the cross-examination of the victimThe HC said in the present case the sessions judge failed in his duty to protect the dignity of the victim an MBA graduate who was gang-raped in the Hinjewadi area of PuneThe HC noted that the lawyers defending the accused persons had tried to suggest among other things that the victim had consumed alcohol and that she had had consensual sex with the accusedThe high court questioned the silence of the prosecution during such cross-examination It further remarked that the sessions judge who heard the case should not have remained passive and should have intervened when the lawyers subjected the victim the primary witness in the case to improper cross-examinationAs far as the main incident is concerned some suggestions were given on behalf of accused No1 which show that the defence was trying to develop a theory of consensual sex the bench saidOnce she had denied suggestion of consensual sex further suggestions were put to her regarding graphic details of the act These further suggestions were wholly unnecessary it observedThe HC said such line of questioning could not be considered a proper cross examination We strongly disapprove all these suggestions put to the witness We are more pained because of the passive approach adopted by the learned Judge in allowing these questions the HC saidThese suggestions crossed all lines of basic dignity Under the garb of giving suggestions graphic details of the act were put to the witness This was wholly unwarrantedThe learned Judge has recorded that at that stage the witness was sobbing The learned Judge should have intervened and stopped this line of cross-examination it saidThe HC said all courts are duty-bound to forbid any questions that might be offensive or meant to insult someoneIt further said that in the present case the sessions judge failed to inform the woman that she must not feel compelled to answer the unwarranted questionsThe bench however said that while the cross examination was questionable there did not exist any infirmity in the session courts order convicting and sentencing the three accused persons to life imprisonmentThe HC said it did not find any reason to interfere with the Pune courts order and thus upheld the life terms awarded to the accused - Subhash Hiralal Bhosale Ganesh Uttam Kambale and Ranjit Shahaji GadeThe victim was gang-raped by the accused near Information Technology Park at Mankar Chowk in Wakad on the outskirts of Pune on April 1 2010 after she accepted a lift in their carThe incident had highlighted the lack of security for women working in the Hinjewadi area where several IT companies are located PTI AYA RSY RSY

Mumbai Sep 27 PTI The Bombay High Court has issued a set of guidelines for cases related to sexual harassment of women at the workplace and stipulated that such matters will only be heard in-camera or in the judges chambers and no media reporting on judgements will be allowed without prior approvalThe guidelines the first such norms formulated by the HC related to conducting hearings passing and uploading of orders reportage on cases of sexual harassment of women at the workplaceIn a detailed order passed on Friday a bench of Justice Gautam Patel said that henceforth all proceedings under the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace Prevention Prohibition and Redressal Act POSH Act 2013 will only be heard in-camera or in the judges chambers Orders in such cases will not be uploaded on a courts website and the press will not report on a judgement passed under the Act without the courts permission the HC saidJustice Patel said there did not exist any established guidelines so far for such matters and therefore issued a working protocol for all future casesAs per the order breach of the guidelines or publishing the parties names or revealing their identities even if such information already exists in public domain will amount to contempt of courtBoth sides and all parties and advocates as also witnesses are forbidden from disclosing the contents of any order judgment or filing to the media or publishing any such material in any mode or fashion by any means including social media without specific leave of the court the order readsThe court said it was imperative that the identities of the parties involved in cases under the POSH Act was protectedIt is imperative therefore to protect the identities of the parties from disclosure even accidental disclosure in these proceedings This is in the interest of both sides There appear to be no established guidelines so far in such matters the HC saidThis order setting out a working protocol for future orders hearings and case file management is a first endeavour in that direction it saidThe guidelines further mandate that all records of such cases will be maintained in sealed envelopes and will not be issued to any person without permission of the court PTI AYA RSY RSY