Families of blasts victims look back in anger

Hindustan Times

a day ago

Malegaon: 'Have they been let off just today? Wasn't Sadhvi already free?' The youngest victim, Farheen, was 10 years old when she was killed in the blasts in 2008.
'Uparwala saza dega.' (God will punish them.)
These words from relatives of those who died in the 2008 Malegaon blast, which occurred in the month of Ramzan, encapsulate the sentiment of the six affected families in this power loom city in Nashik district, soon after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court's verdict on Thursday.
Old, ailing and abandoned by all political parties, these families, among the poorest residents of this city, have barely been able to keep track of the many twists and turns of the case.
After the acquittal of all the accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts last week, the question being asked in Malegaon was simple –– will this be repeated in the Malegaon blast case. And if so, will the government rush to appeal as it did in the train blasts case?
'The home minister's speech in Parliament gave an inkling of the verdict,' said Aleem Faizee, founder editor of the Malegaon-based news website Ummid.com, referring to Amit Shah's comment on Wednesday that no Hindu could ever be a terrorist.
'We have not got justice; we will appeal,' said Mufti Ismail, Malegaon MLA and general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema, which arranged for lawyers to represent the intervenors in the case. Advocate Irfana Hamdani added, 'We need to study the judgment to know how the evidence was placed before the court. The ATS charge sheet had both audio and video records of strategy meetings and phone conversations, recorded by one of the accused, and these pointed to Pragya Thakur's involvement.'
Infirm and hard of hearing, Syed Nisar, 74, whose son died in the blast, has been the voice of the victims in the NIA court. He intervened in 2017 when the NIA said it had no objection to Sadhvi Pragya's bail application. 'This was not out of enmity for any community, but for justice,'' he clarified. 'My son was just 19.' The former scrap dealer is ready to continue fighting.
Ainoor Bi lost her 23-year-old son Irfan, who helped her sell vegetables, in the blast. 'How could they not have been punished?'' she asked. 'Imagine what it means for parents to lose their young child.' After Irfan's death, she tried to resume work but could not do so as returning to the same spot in the market where her son's friends worked was unbearable.
Hussain Shaha, who lost his father Harun, a power loom worker, was at his usual spot selling vegetable fritters even on the day the verdict was pronounced. The verdict means nothing to his mother, he said. 'Her health started failing after my father died; she is so far gone, she does not even recognise me.'
'Hemant Karkare (then ATS chief) had uncovered everything. If only he'd been alive…' rued Liaquat, father of the youngest victim. Holding up a picture of his then 10-year-old daughter Farheen, he said it was given to him by her teacher who took it from Farheen's scholarship form. 'My daughter was clever. She loved studies,' said the former truck driver.
Karkare is revered in the community. Another set of victims in Malegaon, inextricably linked to the 2008 blast, also remembered him. Nine Muslims were arrested for the first set of blasts in the city in 2006 on Shab e Baraat, a night of prayer, in which 31 Muslims were killed. These men could get bail in 2011 and were finally discharged in 2016 only because Karkare's investigations into the 2008 blast led to a different set of accused for the 2006 blasts too. The appeal against their discharge is pending in the Bombay high court.
Thursday's verdict has left people in the community angry.
'Was NIA's duty just to prove the accused innocent, or also to find the real culprits?'' asked eminent surgeon Dr Saeed Farani, who treated victims of both blasts. 'Perhaps we should just learn to live with this.'
But what of Malegaon's Hindus? The Mausam river divides Hindus and Muslims geographically in the city. The power loom industry on which the city runs, necessitates interaction but otherwise, there's little intermingling. Gandhian Subhash Pardeshi said: 'When 31 of their fellow citizens died in the 2006 blasts, though Shiv Sena MLA Dada Bhuse sent Shiv Sainiks to donate blood, no Hindu in Malegaon condemned the attack or stepped up to share the grief of the families of the deceased.'
'That silence will continue,' he added.