BJP welcomes Malegaon blast verdict, says ‘Congress conspiracy of Hindu terror has been destroyed’

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday hailed the NIA court verdict in the 2008 Malegaon Blast case, saying the judgment has destroyed the Congress’ conspiracy of linking terrorism to Hindutva.

The NIA court acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and retired Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, saying the prosecution failed to provide “cogent evidence” to prove their involvement.

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“Congress’ conspiracy of Hindu terror has been destroyed,” senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said during a press conference at party headquarters.

Welcoming the court’s verdict, Prasad said the entire case was a ‘Congress conspiracy for sheer vote bank politics’.

“Colonel Purohit, who fought against terrorism in Kashmir, was accused. Pragya Thakur was accused of using her motorcycle in the blast. She was tortured so much that she could not walk after that,” he said.

At least six people were killed and 101 injured in the two blasts that took place near a mosque in Muslim-dominated Malegaon in Maharashtra’s Nashik district on September 29, 2008.

The incident prompted the allegations of “Bhagwa Atankwad” (saffron terrorism) after Maharashtra ATS claimed that it had found evidence linking Colonel Purohit’s organisation “Abhinav Bharat” to terror activities.

However, in its verdict, the NIA court gave a clean chit to Abhinav Bharat, saying the prosecution could not prove the funds of the organization were used for terrorist activities.

After examining 323 prosecution witnesses and eight defence witnesses, the court reached its judgment that acquitted all the seven accused of all charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Arms Act, and all other relevant laws.

“Terrorism has no religion because no religion can advocate violence. The court cannot convict anyone merely on perception and moral evidence; there has to be cogent evidence,” the court said while delivering the judgment.

The court mentioned in the verdict that the prosecution could not prove that explosives were stored and assembled at Colonel Purohit’s residence and placed in the motorcycle that allegedly belonged to Pragya Thakur.

“The prosecution proved that a blast occurred in Malegaon but failed to prove that the bomb was placed in that motorcycle,” news agency ANI quoted Judge Abhay Lohati as saying while pronouncing the verdict.

The court also questioned the flawed investigation and pointed out several discrepancies in the way the spot evidence was collected by the investigation officer.

“No sketch of the spot was done by the investigation officer while doing the panchnama. No fingerprint, dump data, or anything else was collected for the spot. The samples were contaminated, so reports can’t be conclusive and relied upon,” the court said.

The court also said that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) could not be applied to the case, as the sanction for prosecution was not obtained in accordance with the rules.

Moreover, the NIA court also found discrepancies in the list of the injured. “The court has come to the conclusion that the injured were not 101 but only 95, and there was manipulation. In some medical certificates,” the court said.