By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Mumbai: One of the Malegaon 2006 blasts accused, Afroz Iqbal Maqdoomi, has resorted to Right To Information (RTI) Act to find out why the Supreme Court was not passing any order to start his trial despite so many hearings.
Maqdoomi, who is presently in Ratnagiri Jail along with the other nine accused, requested Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) judge on Saturday through videoconferencing that he be allowed to go to the Supreme Court as the hearing on his RTI appeal is scheduled to be held on May 11.
The SC has stayed proceedings in the 7/11 serial train bomb blasts case and 2006 Malegaon blasts case in the special MCOCA court. One of the 7/11 accused had filed a petition in the SC against the MCOCA court pleading that the state does not have the power to impose MCOCA on him as it has already applied a central law the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the same case. Now, only a verdict by SC on whether or not MCOCA would be applicable will entitle the proceedings of the case to go ahead.
It was on September 8, 2006 that bombs went off at Bada Qabrastan and Mushawarat Chowk in Malegaon claiming at least 31 persons while injuring more than 250. In the subsequent probe the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested nine Muslims youths-Noorul Huda, Shabbir Ahmad, Raees Ahmad, Dr. Salman Farsi, Dr. Afroz Maqdoomi (In Urdu some days earlier Farogh Makhdoomi), Shaikh Muhammad Ali, Asif Ali, Muhammad Zahid and Abrar Ahmad- under the stringent MCOCA.