New Delhi, Nov. 17: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind has moved the Supreme Court for the release of Muslim youths held in connection with blasts at Malegaon since 2001.

The move follows the arrest of Hindu suspects, including religious leaders, in the latest explosion in the town that killed six people last September.

In a petition filed today, the Jamiat said the investigating agencies had “wrongly” arrested dozens of Muslims after the 2001, 2006 and 2008 blasts in the Maharashtra textile town and sought an inquiry by a retired apex court judge or a sitting high court judge.

Jamiat lawyer Anis Suhrawardy said that despite “repeated” demands, the state government had not asked an “independent agency” to probe the explosions, and it was only after police tortured the suspects that the cases were handed over to the CBI.

“Maharashtra police started arresting people indiscriminately…. The basis was to brand them members of (the banned) Simi,” the petition said. “After arrest, the young and highly educated boys were brutally tortured, physically and mentally, by the police till the cases were handed over to the CBI…. It is unfortunate that they are still languishing in jail.”

It added: “Till today, despite investigation for a considerable period, nothing has been found against them. Though some links were clearly showing involvement of some Hindu elements, the police did not look into those aspects.”

Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit, a serving officer in the army, sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and a self-styled Shankaracharya, Dayanand Pandey, have been arrested in connection with the September 29 blast.

Pragya is alleged to be a former member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh student arm) and Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

The petition said the same method had been adopted in all the blasts in Malegaon, suggesting that the bombers were the same. But “no corrective measures were taken” after the 2001 and 2006 blasts, leading to the latest bombing, it added.