A special court in Mumbai on Thursday acquitted all the seven accused, noting there was "no reliable and cogent evidence" against them.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
Mumbai: The families of the victims of the Malegaon bomb blast have decided to move the Bombay High Court against the order of the NIA Special Court, which has acquitted all the seven accused.
“We will not stop here… we will move the Bombay High Court, we will move the Supreme Court,” said lawyer Shahid Nadeem, who had been representing the families of the victims.
Nadeem said that in the case of the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case, the Maharashtra government moved the Supreme Court, last week, within 24 hours of the acquittal of 12 persons by the Bombay High Court, who were earlier convicted by a special MCOCA Court.
“The government must show the same speed in moving the higher court in the Malegaon case as well,” he said.
“The bomb blast has been proved by the court. We will challenge this acquittal in the high court. We will file the appeal independently… In the blast at Malegaon, six people were killed and 101 were injured. The court acquitted all the accused by giving them the benefit of doubt. But this is not a clear acquittal, an appeal will be filed in this matter. Accused No.10 (Sudhakar Chaturvedi) had said that no bomb blast took place, but that is a false statement,” he added.
"It is sad that we were waiting for the judgment for 17 years. But this is not the victim's fault that the acquittal happened; they just suffered. The victims had come from Malegaon to show their wounds (and depose in court), the court gave the benefit of the doubt because the agency had failed, the ATS and government failed. The victims have no role in this,” he added.
Lawyer-activist to file PIL
Rattled by the Special NIA Court verdict in Malegaon case, lawyer-activist Nitin Satpute said he would file a PIL in the Bombay High Court, making the NIA a party.
“The investigating agency has kept deliberate lapses in investigations and deliberately not collected sufficient evidence and filed defective chargesheet so that to help, save, shield and protect accused in Malegaon bomb blast case,” he said.
“FIR must be filed against the police authority officer who has not investigated properly at the behest of someone to save all accused, resulting which all accused got acquitted by special court. I am going to file PIL against this investigation agency,” he said.