BY RAM PUNIYANI

Although evidence clearly points at the accused in the Malegaon blasts, it would appear that the local Maharashtra police - in connivance with political leaders - are doing everything they can to weaken the case and ensure the guilty are not punished.

ELEVEN SUSPECTS of the Malegaon blast on September 9, 2008 got a breather (on August 1, 2009) when the special court hearing the case dropped the charges under Maharashtra Control Of Organised Crime Act 1999 (MCOCA). The Prosecution failed to show that all accused were members of a single organised crime syndicate. The MCOCA act also requires that there should be two previous charge-sheets against one of them. Since the case prepared by the police could not prove this, the charges have been dropped. The Anti Terror Squad and Maharashtra Chief Minister have stated that they will appeal the order in higher courts. In the past, the Congress has not taken any serious initiatives to punish the guilty, so this statement has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

MCOCA apart, the overall scenario and line of investigation followed by the police has left a lot of ground uncovered which will probably help the culprits get off lightly if the police does not do its homework well. There may also be deeper political dimensions to the issue as well. The first point which has struck observers so far is that, for a long time, the police line of investigation in the blast case was based on the premise that a Muslim group was involved in the crime. This created two problems: innocents kept getting arrested and tortured; and the real culprits were able to roam around scot-free. The vicious cycle of presumptions ruling police investigations in cases of terrorism was broken by then ATS chief, Hemant Karkare, with unquestionable evidence in the form of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s motorcycle, which was retrieved from the crowded lane in Malegaon.

WIDER CONSPIRACY

THIS breakthrough also pointed towards several other people and many organisations. It was then revealed that the people allegedly involved in the incident were Swami Dayanand Pandey, Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, Ajay Rahirar, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Rakesh Dhavade and many others. The connections with Abhinav Bharat, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, army units, Bhonsala Military School (Nagpur and Nashik) and Akanksha Resort Sinhgad all emerged and the picture of a broad conspiracy became clear.

The investigating officer, Hemant Karkare - whose death in the 26/11 Mumabi terror attack raised several questions - faced immense pressure due to criticism from Hindu right wingers. Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, through his paper Saamna, said it ‘spits on the face of anti-nationals like Karkare while others called him 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, through her articles in Communalism Combat (February 2009), raised several questions about the charge-sheet, which remain unanswered.

One recalls that the investigation into the Nanded blast (April 2006) also did not reveal much, until human rights activists and others initiated a pressure campaign. Rakesh Dhawade, one of the accused in the Malegaon blast, confessed to his involvement in the training of a few youth, to prepare and detonate bombs. The training was undertaken near the Sinhgad Fort, Pune, in July-August 2003. Despite this, he was discharged from the Purbea Masjid blast case on July 27, 2009! According to the ATS, this was done because the local police did not file a strong enough charge-sheet! One does not know whether the case was botched because the police lacked co-ordination or because of deeper, heinous reasons.

PENAL CODE

IT is surprising that section 125 - waging war against the Indian nation - has not been added to the charges against the accused. In this case, the involvement of serving and retired military officers has not been probed. It has ramifications far deeper than can be seen from the surface. These military officers were from the Bhonsala Military School, which is practically controlled by the RSS. The RSS has a wing for retired military personnel and lays a lot of emphasis on cultivating connections with men in uniform. The theft of 60 kgs of RDX by Purohit indicates what serving and retired military officers can do once they are ideologically indoctrinated by notions other than that of secular, democratic India. Purohit, in his narco analysis on November 9, 2008, revealed his role in the Samjhauta Express blast and his possible role in the Mecca Masjid blast.

The case has multiple dimensions. One does not support MCOCA at all; it is not only arbitrary and draconian, but also provides the police with an excuse to stop further investigation. Plus, even if one does not trust the narco-analysis, there is enough evidence to link all the accused, indoctrinated by the RSS, to the Malegaon blasts. But, why aren’t the obvious links being pursued by the police? Why resort to shortcuts of MCOCA and narco-analysis tests?

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

Political policies determine the whole process. It is such outcomes which make a section of the population feel that they are used merely as vote banks and, when it comes to administering justice, they are not considered at all. If the culprits of the Malegaon blast are treated with kid gloves under the theory that violence from the Hindu-fold is retaliatory, it will amount to the worst travesty of justice.