By Mubasshir Mushtaq for TwoCircles.net
I just finished reading the 33 page ruling on Malegaon 2006. First impressions:
1. ATS shamelessly tried to build a fictitious case against the accused but failed miserably. Unlike CBI, which took an honourable exit from the case by remaining absent, the ATS argued for framing of charges against the accused despite the fact that NIA’s investigation had an overriding effect on the investigation carried by the ATS and the CBI.
2. Justice VV Patil legally demolished each legal contention or case law cited by the ATS and Hindu terror accused. Judge Patil minutely went through each citation and demonstrated how ATS and the Hindu accused were taking wrong legal inference. Patil successfully showed them how to interpret a case law. The judge comes across a legal luminary.
3. The judge debunked ATS theory that the Muslim accused wanted to disturb the communal harmony of Malegaon and Maharashtra by targeting fellow Muslims. The judge says the best time to conduct such an activity could have been during Ganesh immersion which went peacefully in town. The judge, I must admit, very well knows how Hindu-Muslim relationship works in society.
4. The entire ruling is based on legal reasoning and evidence placed before the court. I don’t think this ruling will, in any way, benefit the Hindu accused of 2006 and 2008. On the contrary, 2006 Hindu accused have been clearly identified as potential perpetrators of the blasts. The ruling indirectly points a finger towards them.
5. The only problematic part of the judgement is on page 31 where the judge seems to have been carried away without actually knowing the ATS officers. It says, “However, it should be mentioned here that the ATS Officers who conducted the investigation were having no animosity with these accused persons to book them in the crime, therefore, in my view as they discharged their public duty but in a wrong way, so they may not be blamed for it”.