Six family members of the victims of the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast have approached the Bombay High Court, challenging the acquittal of seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit.
According to Indian Express, the appeal, filed by Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal and others, contends that the special NIA court’s July 31 verdict was “bad in law” and should be quashed. The petition argued that conspiracies are often hatched in secrecy, making direct evidence unlikely, and criticized the trial court for acting as a “mute spectator” instead of probing deficiencies in the prosecution’s case.
The petitioners also alleged, as cited by PTI, that the NIA diluted charges after taking over from the Maharashtra ATS, citing former special public prosecutor Rohini Salian’s claim of being pressured to go slow in the case. They maintained that sufficient evidence linked the accused to the conspiracy, the motorcycle used in the blast, and the explosives, and demanded conviction.
The appeal is scheduled to be heard by a division bench headed by Justice A.S. Gadkari on September 15.
On September 29, 2008, a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded near a mosque in Malegaon, killing six people and injuring 101 others. The case was initially investigated as a terror plot by right-wing extremists targeting the minority community.
