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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

What governments need to learn from Malegoan and Samjhauta Express rulings

Congress ‘worthies’ who earned the dubious distinction of coining ‘Hindu/Saffron Terror’ have egg on their faces now after the Malegaon case judgement by Bombay HC.

The Bombay High Court’s judgment on the Malegaon blast case has been relegated to oblivion amid the cacophony of state assembly elections and the ongoing West Asia conflict. The development has received minimal coverage in mainstream print and visual media.

On 8 September 2006, four bombs exploded in Malegaon, Nashik district—three inside the premises of Hamidia Masjid and Bada Kabrastan just after Friday prayers, and the fourth in Mushawarat Chowk, killing 31 people and injuring 312.

Two decades later, the Bombay High Court quashed and set aside a special court order framing charges against four men. A division bench comprising Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Shyam Chandak upheld the appeals filed by the family of the four accused—Rajendra Chaudhary, Dhan Singh, Manohar Ram Singh Narwaria and Lokesh Sharma—against the special court’s order. 

The four were charged under various sections of the IPC for murder and criminal conspiracy, as well as under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The CBI, which investigated the case, later handed it over to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which initially blamed the bombings on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and arrested nine persons.

In 2011, the NIA took over the case following an order from the Ministry of Home Affairs, which told a Mumbai court that it had found no evidence to link the Muslim accused arrested........

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