Malegaon, a small town in Nashik district, Maharashtra is a predominantly Muslim town known for its loom industries. On 8 September, 2006, a series of bomb blasts ripped through near a mosque and a cemetery during Friday prayers. Obviously, most of the victims were from the Muslim community. Last week, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday quashed the order framing charges against four (Hindutva-linked) accused in the 2006 Malegaon blast case. After nearly 20 years, the families of those who died (the blasts claimed 31 lives and injured over 300) have been denied justice.
The case saw multiple twists and turns and despite being such a high-profile case, ended up in showcasing the pitiable condition of a justice-delivery system. It exposed the failures of the investigative process, the agenda of communal politics, and the non-application of mind in processing the entire event.
So, how did the culprits of the Malegaon blasts case manage to remain at large even after two decades of such a sophisticated system of well-trained law-enforcement and investigative-agency network being in their pursuit? Why were Muslims framed in an act of violence in which the victims were mostly Muslims? How did the line of investigation change (first Muslims were accused and then Hindus) after the investigation moved from Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to the National Investigative Agency (NIA)? All these deeply disturbing questions demand answers.
From Accusation to Exoneration
Initially, the Maharashtra ATS started with the investigation. The ATS arrested nine Muslim youths, accusing them to be part of an alleged conspiracy linked to the banned organisation SIMI. Then, in 2011, the NIA took over the reins of the case. The NIA took a completely different direction in their search for the culprits of the blasts. They pursued the line that the Malegaon blasts were conducted by elements linked to Hindutva extremist organisations. After a long investigation, the NIA concluded that there was no solid and credible evidence against these SIMI-linked Muslim youths. The court honourably acquitted them in 2016.
These innocent Muslim youths remained behind bars for years with the stigma that they were responsible for the blasts. They were made scapegoats by a system that wanted to signal the Muslim community that you will remain prime suspects even if violence is carried out against your own community. This narrative was repeated not only by the ATS but later by the CBI as well. But the acquittal left a question that still haunts the conscience of justice today: If these men were innocent (as was ultimately proven) who will account for the precious years of their lives spent in prison?
Editorial comments rightly point out that such cases are often the product of weak evidence, forced confessions, and brutal interrogation, where human lives are ruthlessly trampled in the name of national security. It also shows that a wider political agenda was driving law enforcement and investigation.
The Shift in Narrative: from SIMI to Hindutva Extremists
When NIA reopened the case, it came up with a diagonally opposite narrative. The NIA claimed that the blasts were the work of Hindu extremists. The supplementary charge sheet named individuals who were said to be associated with Hindutva organisations like Abhinav Bharat. Documentary evidence and testimonies revealed that some elements in these circles wanted to adopt violence against Muslims as part of a strategy for attaining their organisational and ideological objectives. They saw bomb blasts as a means of spreading fear and creating divisions in society.
Transcripts of some meetings even mentioned the possibility of targeting Muslim mohallas to foment communal unrest on a large scale. However, the NIA investigation could not stand the test of the court. Their entire prosecution case rested largely on confessions that were later retracted. Many of the evidence that they were able to muster proved weak and failed in the face of legal scrutiny. The court clearly stated that the evidence did not amount to a conviction. Thus, the other side of the Malegaon case also reached the same conclusion. All the accused (this time those linked with Hindutva groups) were acquitted.
Politics, Prejudice and the Burden of Identity
Behind the curtain of legal failures, an even more bitter and unsettling reality emerges, namely the role of politics and identity. These Malegaon blasts have been wrapped up in “politics, religion, and the politics of religion” from the very beginning. Was it a coincidence that the first finger was pointed at Muslim youth? Or was it a continuation of a long tradition, where the first arrow of suspicion is always fired in that direction? These shifting narratives raise a very serious question: Does justice in this country depend on evidence or on the identity of the accused? Are all equal before the court, or are some truly “more equal before the law”? This question is not only legal, but also moral.
For the Muslim community, this feeling is no longer just a fear, but a living reality: that they are the first to be accused, the last to be acquitted, and the harm they suffer in all this time, there is no accounting for it, no redress. Is this justice? Or is it a system where even the scales of justice tip under the weight of identity?
Remembering Maulana Azhari for Inspiration
There was a time when even a word in defence of any Muslim youth falsely accused of the various bomb blasts in the country invited suspicion and stigma. This climate of fear was broken by Maulana Abdul Hameed Azhari from Malegaon. With a handful of committed associates, he started a powerful, collective movement known as the Kul Jamaati Tanzeem,
Maulana knew Muslims were being framed through these blasts. He wanted to dispel the flawed narrative that sought to portray the Malegaon blasts as a result of internal Muslim sectarian (masalik) divisions. Over the next five years, Maulana Azhari took the cause from the streets of Malegaon to the highest echelons of power. He engaged with national leaders across the political spectrum. He never diluted his singular message: that innocent Muslim youth had been wrongfully implicated and that justice demanded an honest, comprehensive investigation.
“Slain ATS Chief Hemant Karkare had later confessed that it was because of this strong conviction that he decided to explore all possible angles while investigating another terrorist attack that rocked Malegaon (in 2008)…The efforts taken by Maulana Azhari-led Kul Jamaati Tanzeem and others bore fruit when the Muslim accused were first granted bail in November 2011 and later discharged from the 2006 Malegaon blast case in April 2016”. (Obituary of Maulana Ab Hameed Azhari in ummid.com)
For those who seek justice for the victims of Malegaon blasts, they can only say, “When truth is buried under contradictions and delay, justice does not merely fail; it disappears.”