Malegaon Blast: 16 years on, victims are still waiting for justice

Sixteen years have passed since the 2008 Malegaon bomb which killed six people and injured over 100 Nonetheless as the trial draws to a close the victims and their families continue to await justiceThe prosecution has already delivered its final submissions and the defence is slated to begin closing arguments on September 30 However families who have lost loved ones have endured an agonising wait for justiceMalegaon blast Attack killed 6The Malegaon blast occurred on September 29 2008 when an explosive device mounted to a motorbike detonated near a mosque in Malegaon roughly 200 kilometres from Mumbai The attack resulted in six deaths and more than 100 injuriesSeveral people including Lt Col Prasad Purohit BJP leader Pragya Thakur Major Retd Ramesh Upadhyay Ajay Rahirkar Sudhakar Dwivedi Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni are on trial on accusations under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA and the Indian Penal Code IPCThe Maharashtra AntiTerrorism Squad ATS initiated the inquiry which was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency NIA in 2011The trial is now finally approaching its end and we expect the court to conclude it soon said advocate Shahid Nadeem who represents the victims He also expressed concern over the ATSs lack of interest in the case which has delayed justice for the victimsMalegaon blast Man says trial has been draggedNisar Ahmed who lost his son Sayed Azhar in the blast expressed unhappiness with the trials poor progress He believes the trial has dragged on due to the accuseds influence but he is still hopeful that justice will be served He encouraged the court to treat the case seriously and to conclude it as soon as possible in the victims best interestsDuring the trial the prosecution questioned 323 witnesses 34 of whom turned hostile The defence introduced eight witnesses seven of whom were called by PurohitMalegaon blast NIA submitted chargesheet in 2016In 2016 the NIA submitted a chargesheet that cleared Pragya Thakur and three others mdash Shyam Sahu Praveen Takalki and Shivnarayan Kalsangra mdash of any participation citing a lack of evidence However the court only released Sahu Kalsangra and Takalki while Thakur will still face prosecutionThe court also withdrew the accuseds harsh Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act MCOCA charges from that periodOn October 30 2018 charges were formally filed against seven suspects under the UAPA and IPC The accusations included sections 16 terrorist act and 18 conspiracy to perform a terrorist act of the UAPA as well as sections 120b criminal conspiracy 302 murder 307 attempted murder 324 causing pain and 153a promoting hatred between religious communities of the IPCThe trial began in 2018 and the recording of witness testimony ended in September 2022