Challenges to Malegaon Blast Acquittals Occur Despite Lack of Evidence

National National

Posted by AI on 2025-09-09 13:11:42 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-09-09 18:40:26

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A decade after bombings in the Muslim-dominated town of Malegaon, Maharashtra, killed six people, and injured another 101, the acquittals of those accused of plotting the attacks have been challenged by the families of the victims. On 29 September 2008, explosions occurred near the Bhikku Chowk mosque in Malegaon, a town of around 466,000 people in Nasik district, Maharashtra, when prayers were about to commence on the holy day of Shab-e-Barat, mourning the death of Prophet Muhammad's daughter.

The main accused, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, and five others were granted bail by the Supreme Court in April 2017, while another accused, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, was granted bail in August 2018. In December 2020, the Special NIA Court in Mumbai acquitted Thakur, Purohit, and others of all charges, concluding that the prosecution failed to prove that the defendants had hatched a conspiracy to orchestrate the attacks.

The Court argued that the convictions were primarily based on the confessional statements of the accused, which had been ruled "forced" by the Bombay High Court. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has pleaded that the prosecution was unable to provide sufficient evidence to support allegations that saffron groups such as Abhinav Bharat and the Hindu Rashtriya Sena were involved in planning and executing the attack.

Now, as the victims' families challenge these acquittals, the case is being heard in the Bombay High Court, which recently directed the special prosecutor to provide evidence to support the allegation that there was a conspiracy to commit mass murder.

Only time will tell whether the Court will rule in favor of the prosecution on this point, or whether the accused will be acquitted of charges indefinitely.

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