Bombay HC issues notice to NIA, 7 acquitted persons on appeal by victims' kin

The Bombay High Court on Thursday issued notices to the seven persons acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blast case on an appeal filed by the family members of the victims reported news agency PTIA bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad also issued notices to the prosecution National Investigation Agency NIA and the Maharashtra government and posted the appeal for hearing after six weeksThe HC was hearing an appeal filed by the family members of the six persons who lost their lives in the blast against the acquittal judgmentThe appeal challenged a special court judgment acquitting the seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit reported PTIThe appeal filed last week claimed that a faulty investigation or some defects in the probe cannot be the grounds for acquitting the accused It also contended that the conspiracy of the blast was hatched in secrecy and hence there cannot be direct evidence of itThe petitioners claimed the order passed by the special NIA court on July 31 acquitting the seven accused was wrong and bad in law and hence deserved to be quashedOn September 29 2008 an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon town located about 200 km from Mumbai in Maharashtras Nashik district killing six persons and injuring 101 others reported PTIThe appeal said the trial court judge should not act as a postman or mute spectator in a criminal trial When the prosecution failed to elicit facts the trial court can ask questions andor summon witnesses it added reported PTIThe trial court has unfortunately acted as a mere post office and allowed a deficient prosecution to benefit the accused the appeal said reported PTIIt also raised concerns over the manner in which the National Investigation Agency NIA conducted the probe and trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case and sought the accused to be convictedThe state AntiTerrorism Squad ATS by arresting the seven persons unearthed a large conspiracy and since then there has been no blast in areas populated by the minority community the appeal said reported PTIIt claimed the NIA after taking over the 2008 Malegaon blast case diluted the allegations against the accused personsThe special court had in its judgment said mere suspicion cannot replace real proof and there was no cogent or reliable evidence to warrant a convictionSpecial judge A K Lahoti presiding over the NIA court had said there was no reliable and cogent evidence against the accused that proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt reported PTIThe prosecutions case was that the blast was carried out by rightwing extremists with the intention to terrorise the Muslim community in the communally sensitive Malegaon townThe NIA court in its judgment had flagged several loopholes in the prosecutions case and the investigation carried out and said the accused persons deserved the benefit of doubtBesides Thakur and Purohit the accused included Major Ramesh Upadhyay retired Ajay Rahirkar Sudhakar Dwivedi Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer KulkarniWith inputs from PTI