[Reader-list] Crime and No Punishment: Malegaon Blast Accused Get a Respite

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Crime and No Punishment
Malegaon Blast Accused Get a Respite

Ram Puniyani

Eleven suspects of Malegaon blast, September 9, 2008, got a breather
(August 01, 2009) when the special court dropped the charges under
MCCOA against 11 suspects of the crime. Prosecution failed to show
that all accused were member of a single organized crime syndicate.
This MCOCA act also requires that there should be two previous charge
sheets against one of them. Since the case prepared by police could
not prove these the charges have been dropped. The ATS and Maharashtra
Chief Minister have stated that they will ensure that they will go to
the higher courts, against the order of this court decision. In past
Congress has not undertaken any serious efforts to punish the guilty,
so this statement of the authorities has to be taken with a pinch of
salt.

MCCOA apart, the overall scenario and line of investigation followed
by police has left lot of ground uncovered which can come handy for
the culprits getting away lightly if the police does not do its home
work well. There may also be deeper political dimensions to the issue
as well. The first point which struck the observers so far was that
for a long time police line of investigation in the blast cases was
based on the premise that some Muslim group is involved in the crime.
This created two problems. One was that the innocents kept getting
arrested and tortured and second that the real culprits could hide
under the cover provided by the popular perception about terrorism.
The vicious cycle was broken by Hemant Karakre with the impeccable
evidence in the form of the Motor cycle of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur
from the crowded lane of Malegaon. Her link led to several people and
many organizations. The people involved were Swami Dayanand Pandey, Lt
Col Prasad Shrikant Puroit, Ajay Rahirar, retired Major Ramesh
Upadhayay, Rakesh Dhavade and many others. The connections with
Abhinva Bharat, Hindu Jagran Samiti, Army units, Bhonsala Military
School (Nagpur and Nashik), Akanksha Resort Sinhgad all emerged and
the picture of a broad conspiracy became clear.

The investigating officer, Hemant Karkare, about whose death in 26/11
terror attack, Antulay raised certain questions, faced immense
pressure due to criticism from Hindu right wingers, Thackeray’s paper
Saamana went on to say that they spit on the face of such a
anti-national person like Karkare, and some others also called him as
Deshdrohi. One does not know what direct/indirect impact all this had
on the future drafting of the charge sheet. Human Rights activist
Teesta Setalvad in her articles in Communalism Combat Feb 2009 raised
several questions about the charge sheet, which remain unanswered.

One recalls that the Nanded blast (April 2006) case investigation
itself was very much muted and it was only the pressure of campaign
form Rights activists that the investigation was pursued. Rakesh
Dhawade, one of the accused in the Malegaon charge sheet had confessed
to his involvement in the training of few youth, for the preparation
and detonation of bombs. The training was done near the Sinhgad Fort,
Pune, in July-August 2003. Despite this he was allowed to be
discharged from the Purbea masjid blast case on July 27, 2009! ATS
says it was because the local police did not file a strong enough
charge sheet! One does not know whether it is a lack of coordination
or there is something deeper to this?

It is beyond one’s comprehension as to why section 125, waging war
against the Indian Nation, has not been applied to these accused. In
this case the involvement of the serving military officers and the
retired ones has not been probed. It has ramifications far deeper then
can be seen from the surface. These military officers had the
background of Bhonsla Military School, which is practically controlled
by RSS. The RSS has its wing for retired military personnel and has a
lot of emphasis on cultivating connections with men in uniform. The
theft of 60 Kilograms of RDX by Purohit is a pointer of what the
serving and military officers can do once they are ideologically
indoctrinated by the notions other than that of secular democratic
India. Purohit in his narco analysis on 9th November 2008 had revealed
about his role in Samjhauta Express blast and a possible role Mecca
Masjid blast.

There are multiple aspects of the case involved. One does not support
MCCOA at all, it is not only arbitrary and draconian; it also is a
refuge for police not to undertake the trouble for deeper
investigation and doing its home work properly. Even if one does not
trust the narco analysis, there are enough other evidences to link up
all these accused indoctrinated by RSS ideology. The point is why so
many links which are there for all to see are not followed? Why resort
to the short cut of MCOCA, or Narco analysis.

The core point is the biases of the state apparatus, political,
bureaucratic and that of police in particular which has resulted in
evolution of two sets of justice delivery systems. One is for the
affluent and privileged that can get away with whatever they want and
the second is for the weaker sections, including minorities. Here
right from the police investigation to the charge sheeting, the
political influence and biases which influence the process of justice
delivery (or the lack of it) and the final verdict all are having a
tinge of bias.

The political polices do determine the whole process. It is such
outcomes which make a section of population feel that they are used
merely as vote banks and when the time of justice comes they are not
considered at all. If the culprits of Malegaon are treated with kid
gloves under the theory that violence from Hindu fold is retaliatory
that will be the travesty of justice of the worst order.