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NEW DELHI: A special NIA court on Thursday acquitted former BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, lieutenant colonel Prasad Purohit, and five others in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case.The court cited lack of evidence and procedural lapses in invoking the UAPA, the Arms Act, and other charges in the 17-year-old blast case, which had claimed six lives.
“I have been saying this since the beginning. I was summoned, and I went to the ATS because I respect the law. I was detained illegally for 13 days and tortured. I was living my life as a sanyaasi and was labelled a terrorist. My life was destroyed by the allegations. The case has been going on for 17 years, and I have struggled. Ye bhagwa ki Vijay hui hai. Hindutva ki Vijay hui hai. (This is the victory of saffron. This is the victory of Hindutva)” .
Pragya Singh Thakur said after the verdict
Why were the accused acquitted?
- The court stated that it cannot convict anyone merely on perception and moral evidence; there must be cogent evidence.
- “Mere suspicion cannot take the place of real proof. No religion teaches violence…Terrorrism has no religion, but the court cannot convict on mere perception and moral, there has to be cogent evidence,” the court said.
- The court ruled that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) could not be applied as the sanction for prosecution was not obtained as per legal requirements. “The UAPA will not be invoked in this case as the sanction was not taken as per rules. Both the sanction orders under the UAPA are defective,” the court observed.
- The court said the investigating agency failed to prove that the motorcycle used in the blast belonged to Pragya Thakur.
- It also observed that Thakur had renounced material possessions and become a sanyaasi two years before the blast.
- While delivering the verdict, the court noted that although the prosecution established that a blast occurred in Malegaon, it could not prove that the bomb was planted in the motorcycle recovered from the scene.
- The crime scene was not properly barricaded, leading to contamination, the court added.
- It also noted discrepancies in the number of victims, and said that “the injured were not 101 but 95, and there was manipulation in some medical certificates.”
- On the alleged role of Abhinav Bharat, the court said there was no material evidence to support the prosecution’s claims. “Abhinav Bharat was used as a common reference by the prosecution. There is no evidence that its funds were used for terror activities,” the court said.
- The court ordered the government to compensate each of the families of the six people killed with Rs 2 lakh, and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.
What we know about the 17-year-old case
- On September 29, 2008, six people were killed and several others injured when a bomb allegedly strapped to a motorcycle detonated near a mosque in Malegaon city, Nashik, during Ramzan and on the eve of Navratri.
- The ATS alleged that the motorcycle belonged to Thakur, and that Purohit brought RDX from Jammu and Kashmir and stored it in his home.
- The investigation, led initially by the Maharashtra ATS under the late Hemant Karkare, led to the arrest of Thakur and Purohit in late 2008.
- The ATS, for the first time, alleged the involvement of “saffron extremists” and linked the accused to a larger conspiracy, also naming them in connection with other blast cases.
- Investigations into the Abhinav Bharat organisation suggested a network of meetings and alleged plans to avenge perceived atrocities against Hindus and create a “Central Hindu Government” (Aryavart).
- The case was transferred to the NIA in 2011. In 2015, special public prosecutor Rohini Salian claimed she was instructed by the NIA to “go soft” on the accused, resulting in a change in the prosecution team.
- In May 2016, the NIA filed a supplementary chargesheet alleging that the ATS had planted RDX traces to frame Purohit. The agency also gave a clean chit to Thakur and others, citing lack of evidence.
- Despite the NIA’s findings, the special court proceeded with charges against seven accused under UAPA, though it dropped charges under MCOCA.
Source: Times of India
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