By TCN Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Monday admitted a petition of Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind seeking judicial probe of all terror blasts since 2002 and compensation to the innocent Muslim youths who were implicated in those cases, put behind bars for several years but later acquitted by courts.
A Bench of Justices T. S. Thakur and Ibrahim Khalifullah admitted the PIL filed by Gulzar Ahmed Azmi, Maharashtra head of Jamiat. Jamiat has urged the apex court to constitute a judicial panel to probe all terror blasts that happened in the country since 2002. Jamiat, in its petition, also urged the court to order compensation, relief and rehabilitation of the youths who were falsely implicated in terror cases.
Hundreds of Muslim youths were picked for blasts in Malegaon, Ajmer, Samjhauta and Mecca Masjid. They had to spend several years in jail until the court found them innocent and released.
Jamiat leaders see it as a big achievement and hope innocent people will get justice. “We are hopeful now that the innocent Muslim youths will get justice from Supreme Court. We were not getting much support from lower and high courts, that’s why we moved the Supreme Court,” said Maulana Arshad Madani, national president, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind (Arshad faction) while talking to TCN over phone.
He said Jamiat has always said that Muslims are not behind terror blasts, and this was proved when National Investigation Agency probed terror blasts of Ajmer Dargah, Malegaon, Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid.
“Since the beginning, we have been saying that Muslims are not behind these blasts. Government agencies continuously blamed Muslims. They said Muslims make bombs, they plant and execute bombs. Last year Congress leadership admitted that saffron terror groups are behind those blasts. NIA has found saffron hands behinds blasts in Ajmer Dargah, Malegaon, Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid,” said Maulana Madani.
“We demand that NIA should probe all other terror blasts and serial blasts of Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad. We believe Muslims are not behind these blasts,” he said.
Jamiat’s counsel Amarendra Saran reportedly told the apex court that its intervention would go a long way in assuaging the feelings of the community. He said a number of Muslim youths were detained for Malegaon blasts in 2006 and 2008 by Maharashtra ATS. They were, however, let off later as they were found innocent by the National Investigation Agency.
Jamiat’s petition has made the States of Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as respondents.