By A. Mirsab, TwoCircles.net,
Mumbai: The recent opposition shown before special court of Mumbai by Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) against the discharge of 9 Muslim youths from Malegaon 2006 bomb blasts case; despite no objection given by NIA and CBI; should not be taken as surprise because no agency in the world can ever disown its own submitted charge sheet before the court of law and is bound to maintain its claim, no matter if their investigation papers fail all the tests of logic and reasoning. Thus, ATS reply to the discharge applications filed by all the Muslim accused in the case can be simply called as an attempt to save its skin than showing strong opposition to discharge of 9 Muslim accused.
Malegaon 2006 blasts case took a logical turn in 2010 after the alleged voluntary confession given under section 164 of CrPC by Aseemanad, an accused in 2007 Makka Masjid blast and Samjhauta express Blast, after his arrest when he told Magistrate that Hindu radicals were actually responsible for orchestrating Malegaon 2006 bomb blasts which was blamed on innocent 9 Muslim men who were arrested by ATS.
Malegaon 2006 Blasts: September 8, 2006. The Muslim cemetery after the series of bombs exploded killing at least 37 and injuring 125 people [Photo: Outlookindia]
It was then that the central government lead by UPA transferred this case to National Investigation Agency (NIA) for detailed investigation on the requests of Muslim political and religious leaders. NIA started investigation of the case from Aseemanad’s confession and arrested 4 Hindu men Lokesh Sharma, Dhan Singh, Manohar Singh and Rajendra Choudhary and chargesheeted them.
After 5 years of their agony behind bars, 9 Muslim men arrested by ATS for the case were granted bail by the special court when NIA did not object to their bail plea suggesting their isolation or non involvement in the case.
After coming out on bail these accused filed a discharge application before special court Mumbai which was also not opposed by NIA and consequently by CBI but the ATS took year long time to reply to discharge application of these accused and finally told the court to not release accused from the case as they stick with their investigation which blames these 9 Muslim men for the blasts.
In their reply ATS has said that they have evidences on record to show involvement of these accused and hence they should not be discharged. If ATS have had evidences on record in the form of submitted charge sheet then why did they require a year long time to respond to the discharge application before special court? It is obvious that they were only procrastinating the matter so as to keep saving their skin as long as they can.
Recently, Supreme court has flatly rejected Gujarat police investigation into Akshardham terror case and have acquitted 6 Muslim men and have also blamed investigating agency and Home ministry for falsely implicating innocent Muslim men and have also rebuked chief Judicial magistrate (CJM) for not following safeguards in recording of alleged confessions of the accused persons.
It is apparent that either of the investigation carried out by ATS or NIA is false and thus, one of it is inevitable to fail before the court as both the investigations are totally conflicting. As NIA is investigating cases all over the country and their investigation is in sync with other cases it is more palpable that ATS theory will fail before the court of law. Therefore it is not wrong to say that ATS investigation is waiting to prove next Akshardham case.
Muslim organizations react to the ATS obstacle in honorable release of 9 Muslim men
Jamiat Ulama Hind (Arshad Madani), an NGO providing legal help to 9 Muslim youths implicated in the case by ATS, reacted strongly and has said it is condemnable that first the ATS falsely implicated Muslim youths in the blast and now it is vehemently opposing their acquittal.
Jamait legal cell Chief Maulana Gulzar Azmi said it shows the communal bias of ATS which is trying to save its skin in the case and also shielding Hindutva terrorists who were involved in the blast.
Shamsher Pathan, Convenor of Welfare Party of India (WPI) have said that the state’s secular government is not serious about the Muslims issues and its dual face has once again came to the fore when it allowed ATS to file a reply of opposing discharge of 9 innocent Muslim men from the case who have already been declared innocent by National Investigation Agency.
He said that several Muslim organizations in the state will come together and will stage strong protest demanding honorable release of a 9 Muslim men, who lready suffered so much, from the case so that clot of terror attack on mosque by Muslims can be erased and these men can live respectable life.
Jamiat Ulema Malegaon president Haji Makki Seth informed Jamiat legal cell secretary Gulzar Azmi in Mumbai that Muslims in Malegaon town were very depressed with the ATS opposition against the discharge of 9 innocent men of their town and were worried about the future of those 9 Muslim accused as their innocence before court will help the town to remove the blot from the community of killing their own men.
Gulzar Azmi appealed to Muslims of Malegaon to maintain patience and assured them to engage more senior lawyers to overcome the hurdle posed by ATS in the honorable release of innocent 9 men of their town.
While criticizing the Muslim delegations meeting ministers and officers every now and then for the release of these innocent men, Azmi said, “ There is nothing which the ministers or officers can do in releasing any accused when the matter is before court and therefore our people should not go to them for releasing these men. We have to fight the battle before court and release our men legally, there is no other way”.
“They (Ministers and officers) dupe every meeting delegation by providing false assurances.”, he added.
(Watch out this space for details on ATS botch-up and possible political support and NIA clean chit )
Related:
Jamiat sends memorandum to new ATS chief for release of innocent Muslims