Maximum punishment will send strong message: Malegaon blast victims

The victims of the 2008 Malegaon blast have sought maximum punishment for all the seven accused and claimed their conviction would "send a strong message to the nation that there is no place for violence and terrorism in our society".

The plea was made by victims in their written arguments submitted before special NIA Judge A K Lahoti, who is presiding over the case.

Former BJP Lok Sabha MP from Bhopal Pragya Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit are among the accused in the case.

The prosecution has proved the entire chain that connected the accused with each other for achieving the goal of executing the bomb blast and perform terrorist acts, the written statement, filed by the intervenor for the victims, said.

"It has proved the case beyond reasonable doubt that the present accused and absconding accused are the only culprits for the terrible act of bomb blast and causing the death of six people and serious injury to 101 people. Hence, it is humbly submitted on behalf of the victims that maximum punishment may be awarded to the accused facing trial," the plea added.

The prosecution cited a total of 495 witnesses in its chargesheet and examined 323 of them, of which 37 turned hostile, 39 were dropped during the trial and 21 passed away, the plea pointed out.

"It is also a well-known fact that the accused are high-profile and highly influential people. The witnesses may have been under tremendous pressure, most probably they must have been threatened or lured not to depose against the accused in the court. The possibility of witness influencing cannot be entirely ruled out," it said.

"Only civilian witnesses turned hostile, none of the police or punch witnesses did so, and they fully supported the prosecution's case. While some mistakes in date, time and name have surfaced due to the passage of time, these discrepancies are minor and can be resolved when considering the evidence as a whole. The accused should not be granted any benefit from these discrepancies," it added.

The written arguments also hailed the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) investigating officer for doing an admirable job of gathering information in challenging conditions and completing procedural work within the allotted time.

However, changes in the regime led to shifts in the approach of the prosecuting agencies, but the victims never lost hope or faith in the judiciary and firmly believed this is a clear case for conviction, the plea said.

"By convicting the accused, the court may send a strong message to the nation that there is no place for violence and terrorism in our society," the written argument stated.

The victims claimed they "faced humiliation for seeking justice, but the courts have protected their rights throughout".

Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a north Maharashtra town about 200 km from Mumbai, on September 29, 2008.

Apart from Pragya Thakur and Lt Col Purohit, other accused facing trial under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Indian Penal Code (IPC) are Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retd), Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni.

The special court, on October 30, 2018, framed charges in the case against seven accused under sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) of UAPA and as well as sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153 (a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups) of IPC.

The case was initially probed by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad before being transferred to National Investigation Agency in 2011.