The organisation says these agencies should be shut down or undergo major reforms to ensure they follow the law and serve justice
NEW DELHI — One of the premier Muslim organisations in the country, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (Mahmood Madani), has strongly criticised the acquittal of all accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case by the NIA court. The organisation called the verdict a shameful failure of the country’s investigative agencies.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, Maulana Hakeemuddin Qasmi, the organisation’s general secretary, said these agencies were expected to uncover the truth in serious cases like terrorism and ensure justice, but they have repeatedly failed.
“This is yet another example of how the system has disappointed the victims,” Maulana Qasmi said. “In the past, too, innocent people have spent years in jail, only to be declared not guilty much later, while the actual culprits have never been punished. Justice has remained out of reach for far too many,” he said.
He said it is unacceptable for such important institutions to keep failing without consequences. “If these agencies cannot do their job honestly and effectively, then there is no reason for them to exist in their current form. Public money should not be wasted on bodies that have lost public trust,” he added. He demanded that either these agencies be shut down or undergo major reforms to ensure they follow the law and serve justice.
Maulana Qasmi urged the government and the judiciary to take the matter seriously. “Strict action must be taken against the officials who acted carelessly or out of bias. They should be held responsible and punished. The families suffering from wrong investigations must be compensated and supported without delay.”
The Malegaon blast, he said, occurred during the last ten days of Ramadan, a time that should have been peaceful. “I visited Malegaon personally, and on Eid day, Maulana Mahmood Asad Madani also went there to stand with the grieving families. That Eid was filled with sorrow. We tried to give hope to the people at that time. But today’s judgment has brought back that pain and reopened old wounds,” the statement concluded.
The special court in Mumbai on Thursday acquitted all seven accused in the deadly bombing that struck the Muslim-majority town in Maharashtra state nearly 17 years ago.
At least six people were killed and nearly a hundred injured in the 2008 blasts.
Among the seven acquitted are Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a former MP of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and a serviceman, Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit.
According to legal portal Live Law, the judge noted that the prosecution failed to prove that the motorbike that allegedly triggered the blasts belonged to Thakur.
The court also observed that while the prosecution had proven a bomb blast did occur, it failed to establish that the explosive was planted on the motorbike.
