A man who was once a prime suspect in the Air India bombing has won the right to limited participation in a public inquiry into the tragedy that killed 331 people in June 1985.

Ripudaman Singh Malik was granted intervenor status Tuesday by former Supreme Court judge John Major, the head of the inquiry.

In a brief written ruling, Major cautioned that Malik's interventions will be limited to challenging "any evidence that directly and adversely affects his reputation."

Any submissions by Malik or his lawyers will have to be made in writing, at least to start. They will have to apply for leave if they want to go further and participate in oral statements and examination of witnesses.

Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted last year - after an 18-month trial - of criminal charges stemming from the downing of Air India Flight 182 by a bomb off the coast of Ireland in 1985.

The bombing, believed to be work of Sikh extremists campaigning for a separate homeland in northern India, took the lives of 329 passengers, most of them Canadian citizens of Indian origin or descent.

It was the worst terrorist attack ever mounted from Canadian soil, and the worst involving civil aviation anywhere in the world until the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

In a separate incident, a second bomb went off as Air India luggage was being transferred at Japan's Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers.

Lawyers concerned character may be 'impugned'

Malik's lawyers had argued, in a written brief last week, that their client needed legal standing at the inquiry to protect his reputation and respond to any evidence that "may impugn his character."

They also warned that Malik may want to ask for some evidence to be heard behind closed doors "where he anticipates prejudice to his reputation or other intimate matters."

Major is required, under the inquiry's terms of reference, to hear some evidence in private if it endangers national security as defined by the federal government.

He can consider other requests to hold closed hearings, but commission counsel Mark Freiman has noted it would be unusual to do so.

Seven given full standing at inquiry

Major has granted full standing at the inquiry to seven organizations and individuals, including the federal government, Air India and a number of family members who lost loved ones in the bombing.

Another nine groups and individuals, including Malik, will be permitted to play more limited roles.

Among them are a number of organizations with no direct link to the Air India tragedy, but that want to have a say on more general questions of anti-terrorist policy.

They include the Canadian Jewish Congress, B'nai Brith, the Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations and the Canadian Muslim Civil Liberties Association.

Major will examine a range of issues, including investigative turf wars between the RCMP and CSIS, airline security, better protection of witnesses in terrorist cases, and the possibility of holding high-profile trials before a three-judge panel rather than a single jurist.

Testimony is to begin in September and run through next April. A report is due in September 2007.