Mumbai, Jul 22 (PTI) Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Abu Asim Azmi on Tuesday demanded compensation for the 12 persons acquitted in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case, and said the probe agencies should apologise to them as they had to spend 19 years of their lives behind bars.
He said legal action should be initiated against the officers involved in the probe and their pensions must be stopped if they have retired.
A new Special Investigation Team (SIT) should be formed to identify the real culprits behind the blasts and to bring out the truth about who falsely implicated the 12 persons, the legislator said.
Seven blasts ripped through Mumbai local trains at various locations on the western line on July 11, 2006, killing more than 180 persons and injuring several others. Nineteen years after the blasts, the high court on Monday acquitted all the 12 accused, saying the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case and it was “hard to believe the accused committed the crime”.
Azmi, who represents the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar assembly constituency in Mumbai, said, “I am happy that the accused persons have been acquitted. From day one, I had maintained that the arrested individuals were innocent and falsely framed in the case.” Recalling the sequence of events, he said, “Initially, there were no arrests (in the case). Then one day, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the (then) Director General of Police (DGP) claimed to have found a strong link and subsequently arrested several individuals. These innocent people were kept in jail for 19 years, and five or six of them were even sentenced to death.” Azmi said that during the investigation, he had pointed out that phone records could establish the accused were not at the blast sites, but the police had resisted citing the high cost of obtaining the data.
When an appeal was made to the high court and the records were eventually secured, it was found that none of the accused were anywhere near the local stations where the blasts occurred, the MLA said.
“The police’s attitude towards Muslims, in my view, is deeply concerning and divisive. Constitutional values are being openly ignored. Whenever a blast occurs, Muslims are invariably arrested. Even today, many innocent Muslims remain imprisoned for years without justice,” he alleged.
“The justice delivery system in the country seems to be collapsing,” he said, urging the government to establish a new SIT to identify the real culprits behind the blasts.
“If these people have been acquitted, then who were the actual perpetrators? Who falsely implicated them? The truth must come out,” he said.
Someone must be responsible (for the blasts), the SP legislator said.
“The government sought to cover up the case by framing innocent individuals. If this country still upholds justice and follows the Constitution written by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, then the officers involved in the earlier probe should be held accountable. If they are retired, their pensions must be stopped and legal action initiated,” Azmi also demanded rehabilitation of the persons acquitted in the case.
“They must be compensated with a home and a job. The investigating agencies owe them an apology,” he said.
Criticising those questioning the court’s verdict, Azmi said, “Many are not accepting the decision. Were they not ashamed when these people were sentenced to death? Now that the truth is out, they refuse to acknowledge it. I believe this is a deliberate pattern to frame innocent Muslims. It is disappointing that an entire community continues to be targeted.” PTI ND NP
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