Guna, Aug 1 (IANS) Former Guna MP Laxman Singh said on Friday that those accused of conspiring in the 2008 Malegaon blast case must come forward and publicly clarify their role, especially now that the court has acquitted them.
Laxman Singh emphasised the importance of transparency in the wake of the court’s ruling.
Speaking to IANS, Laxman Singh said, “The court’s verdict is supreme and must be respected by all. However, if those accused are now claiming that they were falsely implicated, then it becomes their responsibility to clarify their position. They have remained silent so far, and that silence could be misinterpreted. It may lead people to believe that the allegations were true. Therefore, a clarification is necessary.”
Singh further responded to long-standing political allegations surrounding the term ‘Bhagwa Aatankwad’ (Saffron Terror), a phrase previously linked to the Malegaon case by some Congress leaders.
“I do not support that label,” he said, distancing himself from party colleagues who have used the term in the past.
When asked about Congress leaders like Digvijaya Singh and P. Chidambaram, who have previously used the term in the context of terror cases, Laxman Singh dismissed the notion outright.
“I don’t think there’s such a thing as ‘Bhagwa Aatankwad’ or even ‘Muslim Aatankwad.’ These are all baseless and misleading. Terrorism has no religion. Such terms only reflect a distorted mentality and should not be used,” he told IANS.
On Thursday, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh also reiterated that no religion should be associated with terrorism.
“Neither a Hindu, nor a Muslim, Sikh, or Christian can be a terrorist,” he stated, following the court’s acquittal of all the accused. “Every religion is based on love, goodwill, truth, and non-violence,” he said, emphasising the universal peaceful message at the core of all faiths.
On Thursday, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court acquitted all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, including former BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit.
The court dropped all charges against the accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Arms Act, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), citing a lack of sufficient evidence.
The blast occurred on September 29, 2008, when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded near the Bhikku Chowk mosque in Malegaon city of Nashik district, Maharashtra. The explosion, which took place during the holy month of Ramzan and just days before the Hindu festival of Navratri, claimed six lives and injured over 100 people in the communally sensitive town.
After nearly 17 years of legal proceedings, the verdict was delivered in a packed courtroom, with all the accused present, as directed by the court earlier. The court also ordered compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the families of each of the six deceased and Rs 50,000 for every injured victim.
The trial saw a prolonged legal process involving a voluminous case file exceeding one lakh pages.
Hearings concluded in April this year, and the court had reserved its judgment on April 19. Given the scale and complexity of the case, the court took additional time to scrutinise all the material before announcing its verdict.
Throughout the trial, the prosecution examined 323 witnesses, though 34 of them turned hostile, significantly weakening the prosecution’s case.
Initially, the investigation was conducted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which arrested the accused and filed the first charge sheet. However, in 2011, the probe was transferred to the NIA.
–IANS
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