From the Urdu Press: ‘Will Govt compensate Mumbai 7/11 acquitted?', ‘HC's Tablighi Jamaat ruling vindicates community'

Indian Express

3 days ago

On the eve of Parliament's Monsoon Session, the Opposition INDIA bloc held a virtual meeting to discuss their strategies and finalise issues they would raise during the session, which include the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor and the Election Commission's controversial Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. While the session started on a stormy note Monday, in a stunning move later in the evening, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar announced his resignation, two years before the end of his tenure, citing health concerns. Focusing on the session, the Urdu dailies closely tracked these developments which are set to remain on the front burner in the coming days.
Highlighting the Bombay High Court's judgment quashing the 2015 verdict of a special court which had awarded death sentence to five accused and life imprisonment to seven others for the July 11, 2006, Mumbai train blasts – killing 189 commuters and injuring 824 – the Hyderabad-based Siasat, in its July 22 editorial, points out that the high court ruled that the prosecution 'utterly failed' to establish the offences against the accused on each count. 'After being booked as accused in their youth, all these Muslim men had been languishing in various prisons for 19 years. Several questions arise after their acquittal. Could the prime years of their lives that they lost in incarceration be returned to these innocent men? They had been convicted for a crime that they did not do,' it says.
The edit underlines that these accused were subjected to physical and mental torture for a long period. 'Will the government rehabilitate or compensate them for the torture inflicted upon them? Will there be any compensation for the agony and hardship that their families went through for such a long time? However, the answers to these questions would be in the negative,' it says, adding that the acquitted men will have to pick up the pieces of their lives and try to put it together themselves, which will be an 'uphill task'.
Questioning whether the accountability of the officers who botched up investigations would be fixed, the daily also asks what happened to the 'real perpetrators' of this terror case. 'Why have the police and investigative agencies not succeeded in nabbing them and have not unearthed the truth? It is a question of their professional skills, credibility and impartiality. These agencies and the authorities concerned could not duck these questions and evade their accountability,' it says, adding that there cannot be a closure in this heinous case unless its perpetrators are brought to justice.
Commenting on the Delhi High Court's verdict quashing charges in 16 FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Delhi Police against 70 Indian citizens for allegedly accommodating foreign attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in mosques and their homes in March 2020 during the Covid pandemic, the Mumbai-based Urdu Times, in its July 19 leader, writes that the court's ruling upheld truth and justice. The Tablighi Jamaat, a leading Muslim religious organisation, had held an international conclave at its Nizamuddin Markaz headquarters during March 13-15, 2020, days before prohibitory orders were issued and lockdown imposed by the government. The Tablighi Jamaat's attendees, including many foreign nationals, were booked by the police under various sections of the IPC, Disaster Management Act and Epidemic Diseases Act for allegedly spreading Covid and violating the pandemic norms, the editorial notes, adding that the court's ruling has vindicated all the accused.
The daily says this entire episode has exposed a section of the media for propagating that the participants at the Muslim conclave aggravated the pandemic, with right-wing outfits also joining in to demand a crackdown against them. 'However, the accused displayed remarkable patience while facing trial in courts over the last five years,' the editorial states, adding that even Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad Kandhlawi was targeted. It notes that the court ruled that no offence is made out against the accused. 'The community got justice but it was delayed. There should be action against the officials who booked so many people under false charges and tried to sensationalise the case,' the edit adds.
Referring to the coming Bihar Assembly polls, Siasat, in its July 19 editorial, says that while the leading contenders are attempting to consolidate their respective vote bases, some new players are also preparing to enter the fray this time, which include the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founded by Prashant Kishor. 'Kishor has already criss-crossed the entire state, planning to contest all the 243 Assembly seats. He had been a poll strategist, who worked with a slew of leading parties to help their campaigns in various elections, ranging from the BJP and Congress to the Nitish-led JD(U), Mamata Banerjee's TMC and Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP,' it says, adding that a few years ago he had seemed to be engaged in talks with the Congress for a role, which fell through. 'Kishor then emerged on Bihar's political scene, undertook a statewide yatra, reached out to people, and even tried to lead a students' agitation in Patna. He also floated his party which is now set to make its debut in the Assembly polls.'
Kishor has announced that the JSP would not tie up with any party, the daily notes. 'His plunge into the Bihar polls may impact its outcome — it may benefit some parties or alliance and damage their rivals. He has acknowledged that his opponents call him a 'vote katua' (vote-cutter),' it states, adding that the polls would see a keen battle between the ruling NDA led by the BJP-JD(U) and the Mahagathbandhan led by the RJD-Congress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also launched his campaign in the state. 'The JSP may hurt the Mahagathbandhan by splitting the anti-NDA votes. After Nitish's 20-year-long tenure, anti-incumbency sentiments seem to be building up in the state. There is a perception in some quarters that Kishor's entry may dent the Opposition alliance's bid to oust the NDA from power,' the editorial says. 'It remains unclear at this stage how the Kishor factor would play out in the polls, but it would have a bearing on the prospects of both camps.'