Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on July 31 gave a fresh setback to the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), dropping all MCOCA provisions against the 11 accused in the Malegaon blast which took place on September 29, 2008.
Sitting judge Y.B. Shinde, presiding over the special court, said, “None of the accused was part of an organised crime syndicate and also, no one had more than one chargesheet filed against him or her to necessitate the invocation of the provisions of the MCOCA.”
The accused Sadhvi Puranachetnanand Pragya Singh Thakur, serving Indian Army Col. Srikant Prasad Purohit, Swami Dayanand and others were charged under MCOCA on November 20, 2008, a month after their arrests. A squad of top-notch criminal lawyers such as Mr Mahesh Jethmalani and Mr Shrikant Shivade suspected the validity of the MCOCA from day one of the trial.
ATS chief K.P. Raghuvanshi said he would first study the court’s order and then decide on the next move. Judge Shinde has given the prosecution four weeks to the Mumbai High Court.
Noted peace activists including Feroze Mithiborwala, Col. Sudhir Sawant, Kishore Jagtap, Aslam Ghazi, Meraj Siddiqui, Subodh More, Ismail Batliwala, Varsha V V, Mukta Srivastava, Simpreet Singh, Shakil Ahmad, Jagdish Nagarkar, Mulniwasi Mala, Sayeed Khan, Munawwar Khan, Azimuddin, Jyoti Badekar, Avinash Kadam, Munawwar Azad, Ghazala Azad, and Qazi took serious note of dropping of MCOCA charges against the Malegaon accused. They held a dharna at Churchgate Station (East) Footpath July 3 to protest the subversion of investigation into the blast cases. In a statement released to the media prior to dharna they said, “There is a clear attempt to both subvert and finally scuttle the investigations into the Abhinav Bharat terror network. It is also a clear manifestation of the double standards and the hypocrisy of both the national & state governments, the judiciary as well as the security apparatus led by the Anti-Terror Sqad (ATS).
“After the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, we were truly worried about the course of the investigation against the Abhinav Bharat, that was being led by the late Shri Hemant Karkare, the ATS chief. His chargesheet was immaculately drafted and the case against the Abhinav Bharat was impregnable. We had also stated that his successor, Mr. Raghuvanshi, could not be trusted with the investigation and we have been vindicated. Raghuvanshi has not proceeded with the investigation and it is now clearly being subverted by a number of political pressures. We demand that Raghuvanshi be asked to resign and an honest & upright officer be appointed as the new ATS chief.
“It should also be made clear that we are against the use of MCOCA in principle, as it is a draconian anti-democratic law that is in clear violation of all constitutional and democratic principles. Also its selective and communal implementation is abominable to the secular and democratic nature of our society.
“Our main objective is to make sure that the investigation as well as the legal process, into the Abhinav Bharat terror organization carries on unimpeded and the links & its deep roots in the various bodies of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, elements of the Military and the intelligence services, as well as the fact that they have deep ties with the Israeli MOSSAD, be exposed.
“We have received support from all major political parties and secular organisations. We appeal to all concerned patriotic citizens to join the protest and raise our collective voice against the politics of terror that has been unleashed by the powers that be.”