Rohini Salian (born 1947) is an Indian lawyer and former Chief

Public Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

for the State of Maharashtra in the

Sessions Court A Sessions Court or even known as the Court of Sessions Judge is a court of law which exists in several Commonwealth countries. A Court of Session is the highest criminal court in a district and the court of first instance for trying serious offe ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. She was also a special public prosecutor for the Indian

National Investigation Agency The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the primary counter-terrorist task force of India. The agency is empowered to deal with the investigation of terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states under written ...

Early life and education

Salian was born in Mangalore and initially studied art, before moving to Mumbai in 1982 and studying law.

Career

Chief Public Prosecutor for Sessions Court, Mumbai

Salian was a public prosecutor for the State of Maharashtra, and served as the Chief Public Prosecutor for the State of Maharashtra in the Sessions Court, Mumbai, from 2001 to 2007. Salian is a leading Indian

public prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

in the sessions court. Salian has handled several important cases such as the Borivali double murders case, the J J shootout case, the Sara Sahara shopping complex case and the

Ghatkopar Ghatkopar (Pronunciation: �ʱaːʈkopəɾ is a suburb in eastern Mumbai. The area is served by the railway station on the Central Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway and the metro station on Line 1 of the Mumbai Metro. History Ghatkopar in ...

and

Mulund Mulund (Pronunciation: uluɳɖ is a suburb in the north-east of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is also a railway station on the Central Railway line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. It is also the first railway station of Mumbai Suburban dis ...

blast cases.

Special Prosecutor - TADA, MCOCA, and POTA

In 1994, Salian was appointed as a special prosecutor for cases filed under the

Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, commonly known as TADA, was an Indian anti-terrorism law which was in force between 1985 and 1995 (modified in 1987) under the background of the Punjab insurgency and was applied to whole of ...

. Later, she was also appointed to prosecute cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, and the

Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) was an Act passed by the Parliament of India in 2002, with the objective of strengthening anti-terrorism operations. The Act was enacted due to several terrorist attacks that were being carried out ...

Notable Cases under TADA, MCOCA and POTA

= JJ Hospital Shootings

= In 1992, Salian prosecuted Subhash Thakur, Brijesh Singh,

Pappu Kalani Pappu Kalani (born c. 1951) is an Indian criminal-politician from Ulhasnagar. After emerging as the leader of an organized crime syndicate in the 1980s,Quote: Suresh "Pappu" Kalani: a man who is seen as the personification of this lawlessness i ...

, and others associated with mob leader

Dawood Ibrahim Dawood Ibrahim (; born 26 December 1955) is an Indian mafia gangster, drug kingpin, and wanted terrorist from Dongri, Mumbai. He reportedly heads the Indian organised crime syndicate D-Company, which he founded in Mumbai in the 1970s. Ibrahim ...

for a shooting that took place in J.J. Hospital in

. Salian on behalf of the State of Maharashtra argued that the accused had entered the hospital and shot and killed Shailash Haldankar, who was associated with a rival gang led by

Arun Gawli Arun Gulab Gawli (born 17 July 1955) also known as Arun Gulab Ahir, is an Indian politician, underworld don and retired gangster. Gawli and his brother Kishor (Pappa) entered the Mumbai underworld in the 1970s, when they joined the "Byculla C ...

, as an act of revenge for the murder of a member of Ibrahim's family. They were also charged with the deaths of two police constables, who were killed while on duty at the hospital. They were charged under the provisions of the

(TADA). A special court constituted under TADA convicted nine people for the shootings, and acquitted three. The case is still ongoing, with appeals being heard.

= March 2003 Mumbai Bombing

= Salian acted as a special prosecutor in the case concerning a bomb explosion on a train that was at

Mulund Railway Station Mulund is a railway station on the Central Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network. Mulund railway station is connected via the Central Railway to South Bombay and remote places like Khopoli and Kasara. History Mulund station was bui ...

in Mumbai, which resulted in the deaths of twelve people. Fifteen people were charged in a special court for offences under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Two of the accused died during the course of the trial, and the remaining thirteen were convicted in 2016.

Malegaon Blast Case and Criticism of Government

In 2015, Salian publicly criticised the

, stating that officials within the organisation had attempted to prevent her from prosecuting the accused in the 2006 Malegaon bombings incident. Salian stated that the policy concerning the prosecution of the case had changed since the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had come to power in 2014, and that she had been asked to 'go soft' on the accused as they were linked to Hindu extremists. In response to her allegations, a criminal contempt case was filed against Salian by a resident of Mumbai, Sanjay Lakhe Patil. In an affidavit filed in the case concerning this contempt case, Salian named the NIA officers who had sought to interfere with her prosecution of the Malegaon bombings incident. Her allegations were denied by the NIA, which subsequently dropped charges against the accused in the case. Salian was discharged as Special Public Prosecutor from the case, following her allegations. Following this, in September 2015, activist

Harsh Mander Harsh Mander (born 17 April 1955) is an Indian author, columnist, researcher, teacher, and social activist who started the Karwan-e-Mohabbat campaign in solidarity with the victims of communal or religiously motivated violence. He is the Dire ...

filed a

Public Interest Litigation The chief instrument through which judicial activism has flourished in India is public interest litigation (PIL) or social action litigation (SAL). ''Public interest litigation'' (PIL) refers to litigation undertaken to secure public interest and de ...

petition at the Supreme Court of India, seeking their intervention to ensure a fair trial in the Malegaon case and accusing the NDA government of interfering with the prosecutor's ability to prosecute the case. The case was initially placed before a bench consisting of Justice U.U. Lalit and Justice F. M. I. Khalifulla; however, Justice Lalit recused himself on the grounds that he had previously appeared for some of the accused.

Private Practice

After retiring from public office, Salian returned to private practice and has been working as a defence lawyer in criminal matters, in Mumbai.