<p>Mumbai: More than a month after all the seven accused in the Malegaon blasts case walked free, the victims have challenged the acquittal in the Bombay High Court on Wednesday. </p><p>The bomb blast victims Nisar Ahmed Haji Syed Bilal, Sheikh Liaquat Mohiuddin, Sheikh Ishaq Sheikh Yousaf, Usman Khan Ainullah Khan, Mushtaq Shah Haroon Shah and Sheikh Ibrahim Sheikh has field an appeal through Jamiat Ulema Maharashtra (Arshad Madani) Legal Aid Committee, which was representing the victim in the case.</p>.Malegaon blast case: ATS, NIA at odds with each other during investigation.<p>The victims are represented by advocate Mateen Shaikh.</p><p>The Maharashtra government has so far not challenged the acquittal. </p><p>On 31 July, NIA Court’s Special Judge Abhay Lahoti — for “lack of evidence” — acquitted former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur alias Swami Purnachetanand Giri, former Military Intelligence official Lt Col Prasad Purohit (Retd) and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey alias Swami Amrutanand Devtirth, a self-proclaimed Shankaracharya, Maj Ramesh Upadhyaya (Retd), Sameer Kulkarni alias Chanakya Sameer, Ajay alias Raja Rahirkar, and Sudhakar Onkarnath Chaturvedi alias Chanakya Sudhakar. </p><p>The Navratri-eve blast coinciding with the month of Ramzan just a couple days before Eid, on 29 September, 2008, had claimed the lives of six persons and injured 101 others at Malegaon in Nashik district of Maharashtra - nearly 300 kms away from Mumbai. </p><p>The investigations were transferred from the Azad Nagar police station of Malegaon under the Nashik Rural Police to Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra Police and later to the National Investigation Act (NIA).</p><p>Both agencies added new contours to the prosecution theory at crucial stages and frequently included and dropped witnesses.</p><p>"Prosecution proved that a blast occurred in Malegaon but failed to prove that bomb was placed in that motorcycle," the judge noted, adding that the prosecution could not prove that the LML Freedom belonged to Pragya Singh and is no evidence of storing or assembling the explosives in Col Purohit's residence.</p><p>The trial in the case for offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code as the charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) were dropped.</p><p>The court also directed the Maharashtra government to provide compensation— Rs 2 lakh each to the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 to those injured in the incident.</p><p>The accused faced trial under sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) of the UAPA and under IPC sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153 (a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups) and sections of Arms Act and Explosives Act. </p>
<p>Mumbai: More than a month after all the seven accused in the Malegaon blasts case walked free, the victims have challenged the acquittal in the Bombay High Court on Wednesday. </p><p>The bomb blast victims Nisar Ahmed Haji Syed Bilal, Sheikh Liaquat Mohiuddin, Sheikh Ishaq Sheikh Yousaf, Usman Khan Ainullah Khan, Mushtaq Shah Haroon Shah and Sheikh Ibrahim Sheikh has field an appeal through Jamiat Ulema Maharashtra (Arshad Madani) Legal Aid Committee, which was representing the victim in the case.</p>.Malegaon blast case: ATS, NIA at odds with each other during investigation.<p>The victims are represented by advocate Mateen Shaikh.</p><p>The Maharashtra government has so far not challenged the acquittal. </p><p>On 31 July, NIA Court’s Special Judge Abhay Lahoti — for “lack of evidence” — acquitted former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur alias Swami Purnachetanand Giri, former Military Intelligence official Lt Col Prasad Purohit (Retd) and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey alias Swami Amrutanand Devtirth, a self-proclaimed Shankaracharya, Maj Ramesh Upadhyaya (Retd), Sameer Kulkarni alias Chanakya Sameer, Ajay alias Raja Rahirkar, and Sudhakar Onkarnath Chaturvedi alias Chanakya Sudhakar. </p><p>The Navratri-eve blast coinciding with the month of Ramzan just a couple days before Eid, on 29 September, 2008, had claimed the lives of six persons and injured 101 others at Malegaon in Nashik district of Maharashtra - nearly 300 kms away from Mumbai. </p><p>The investigations were transferred from the Azad Nagar police station of Malegaon under the Nashik Rural Police to Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra Police and later to the National Investigation Act (NIA).</p><p>Both agencies added new contours to the prosecution theory at crucial stages and frequently included and dropped witnesses.</p><p>"Prosecution proved that a blast occurred in Malegaon but failed to prove that bomb was placed in that motorcycle," the judge noted, adding that the prosecution could not prove that the LML Freedom belonged to Pragya Singh and is no evidence of storing or assembling the explosives in Col Purohit's residence.</p><p>The trial in the case for offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code as the charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) were dropped.</p><p>The court also directed the Maharashtra government to provide compensation— Rs 2 lakh each to the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 to those injured in the incident.</p><p>The accused faced trial under sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) of the UAPA and under IPC sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153 (a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups) and sections of Arms Act and Explosives Act. </p>