A special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday acquitted all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and former Indian Army Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit.
The court reportedly said the prosecution had failed to prove the charges and the accused deserved the benefit of doubt.
Special Judge A.K. Lahoti passed the verdict after a trial that stretched nearly 17 years.
“Abhinav Bharat organisation was used as a common reference by the prosecution. There is no evidence that the money of the Abhinav Bharat was used for terror activities,” The NIA court said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
On the applicability of the anti-terror law UAPA, the court observed: “UAPA will not be invoked in this case as sanction was not taken as per rules. Both the sanction orders of the UAPA in the case are defective.”
While the court accepted that a blast had occurred in Malegaon, it said the prosecution failed to prove that the bomb was planted on the motorcycle.
“The court has come to the conclusion that the injured people were not 101 but 95 only, and there was manipulation in some medical certificates,” the judge said as reported by legal news website Bar and Bench.
The verdict, per Bar and Bench, also stated: “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.”
"We have ordered the ADG ATS to initiate a probe into the matter of planting explosives in the house of accused Sudhakar Chaturvedi," the court said.
Judge Lahoti was quoted as saying: “There has been a grave incident against society. But the court cannot convict just on moral grounds."
The court ordered that the families of the six deceased victims be given Rs 2 lakh each as compensation, while injured victims would receive Rs 50,000 each.
Addressing the judge in the NIA court, Pragya Singh reportedly said, "I said this from the very beginning that those who are called for investigation there should be a basis behind that. I was called by them for investigation and was arrested and tortured. This ruined my whole life."
"I was living a sage’s life, but I was made and accused, and no one was willingly standing beside us. I am alive because I am a Sanyasi. They defamed Bhagwa through a conspiracy. Today, Bhagwa has won, and Hindutva has won, and God will punish those who are guilty. However, those who defamed India and Bhagwa have not been proved wrong by you," she added.
Victim families’ lawyer advocate Shahid Nadeem said, “The bomb blast has been proved by the court. We will challenge this acquittal in the high court. We will file the appeal independently.”
Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske was quoted as saying, "The truth has won. Many army officers claimed that they made certain statements under pressure from the ATS. But today, everything is out in the open. The Congress government took action to spread the misunderstanding among the people in the name of Hindu terror. Today, it has been proven that the action they took was false."
The blast, which took place on September 29, 2008, in Malegaon city in Maharashtra’s Nashik district, killed six people and injured several others.
An improvised explosive device (IED) -- allegedly strapped to an LML Freedom motorcycle -- exploded near a mosque in a Muslim-majority locality during the holy month of Ramzan.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) initially investigated the case and arrested 12 people, including Pragya Singh Thakur, Purohit, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sudhakar Dwivedi.
The ATS alleged that the blast was part of a conspiracy involving the group Abhinav Bharat. Charges were framed under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In 2010, the investigation was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which filed a supplementary chargesheet in 2016. The NIA recommended that MCOCA be dropped and noted insufficient evidence against some accused, including Thakur.
In December 2017, the court ruled that Thakur, Purohit, Upadhyay, Kulkarni, Rahirkar, Chaturvedi, and Dwivedi would face trial under the IPC, UAPA and Explosive Substances Act.