People gather near the Malegaon Chowk blast
NIA investigation confirms ACP Shengal falsely accused nine
innocent men and fabricated evidence.
Friday, September 8, 2006: It was one of the holiest days in the Muslim calendar --Shab-e-Barat - when bombs exploded at the Malegaon Chowk, and in a mosquecemetery compound, during the afternoon prayers.
Friday, September 8, 2006: It was one of the holiest days in the Muslim calendar --Shab-e-Barat - when bombs exploded at the Malegaon Chowk, and in a mosquecemetery compound, during the afternoon prayers.
Thirty-one people were killed and 300 suffered injuries in the
attacks that visibly targeted Muslims, but the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad
(ATS), in a predetermined manner, immediately blamed Muslim terrorists and
arrested nine from the community.
This case was transferred to the National Investigation Agency
(NIA) which, while investigating the Samjhauta Express blast, had uncovered
evidence contradicting the ATS claims.
After reinvestigating the Malegaon case, the NIA has confirmed
that the ATS fabricated evidence against the accused, and that a Hindu
terrorist group had perpetrated the blasts. Had the investigating officer,
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Kisan Shengal, succeeded in pulling off
this miscarriage of justice, nine innocent people would have possibly been
sentenced to death as terrorists, and their families tarnished with this stigma
forever.
According to the ATS, the blasts were perpetrated by Noorul Huda,
Shabbir Masiullah, Raees Mansuri, Dr. Salman Aimi, Dr. Farogh Magdumi, Mohammed
Ali Shaikh, Asif Khan, Mohammed Zahid Ansari and Abrar Ahmed. The ATS said that
some of them had trained in Pakistani camps and that all had conspired to:
(a) Wage war against the government.
(b) Terrorize people through wanton killing and bomb blasts.
(c) Incite communal riots and disrupt public order.
(d) Indoctrinate Muslims into terrorist and
secessionist ideology.
(e) Avail assistance from Pakistani terrorists.
The NIA's chargesheet debunks these claims comprehensively.
It states that:
(a) ATS witnesses for the alleged seizure of the RDX
from the accused denied witnessing these events;
(b) An ATS witness to the alleged seizure of the fake bomb was
also shown by the ATS as being present elsewhere simultaneously for the seizure
of the deceased's clothes.
(c) The ATS's key witness denied seeing the accused
making the bomb and said that "his statement was recorded under
duress".
(d) An accused, who the ATS claimed had planted a
bomb, was in Fulsawangi about 480 kms away at that time, and another who, the
ATS claimed procured explosives, sheltered Pakistani terrorists, assembled the
bomb, etc, was in jail.
(e) The blasts were carried outby Lokesh Sharma and
others in furtherance of a larger terror conspiracy.
The ATS's false accusations, drawing on stock communal stereotypes
equating Indian Muslims with anti-national activity, terrorism and Pakistan,
display an institutional bias and communal antipathy unbecoming a secular
state.
They also manifest disrespect for truth and the judicial process,
which, in a police force, is extremely worrying since evidence is easily
fabricated and lives hang in the balance.
Investigation, especially in terrorist cases, must be scrupulously
honest, not merely because of accused's rights, but also for our own safety: we
have to be sure that the real culprits have been arrested and cannot re-offend.
The NIA investigation confirms the belief that even in serious cases evidence
is often fabricated, witness testimony coerced, incriminating articles planted,
and innocent people falsely accused. Consequently, the administration of
justice is brought into disrepute when judicial verdicts are believed to be
based on tainted evidence. This has happened in numerous high profile cases,
including the Parliament attack case.
Dishonest investigation, custodial torture and extra-judicial
killings by the police are endemic in India and carried out with impunity: no
policeman has been convicted for these offences in Maharashtra for over 15
years.
Had a few rogue officers been punished, the ATS may not have dared
to fabricate evidence in such an important case. However, courts and
governments have routinely condoned these excesses and we have become inured.
The Malegaon case, an egregious example, must be the starting point where we
show our intolerance for such brazen lawlessness by law enforcers and make an
example of them to deter others.
The NIA's investigation establishes unequivocally that nine
persons, who spent six years in custody, were innocent and were framed by ACP
Shengal on a terrorist charge.
He planted RDX on them from a private stash, coerced a
corroborative statement from a bogus witness and extorted fictitious
confessions from them, which collectively would have sufficed to have them
convicted and sent to the gallows. They are free today only because the NIA
accidentally chanced upon evidence of their innocence. This must never be
allowed to recur.
ACP Shengal must be suspended forthwith, and departmental and
criminal proceedings initiated against him for making false accusations,
fabricating evidence on a capital charge and coercing false testimony
punishable under sections 193-195A, 197, 199, 211, 220 Indian Penal Code. If he
is not prosecuted, other officers will do the same with impunity, and people
will lose faith in the administration of justice.
For all our sakes, and to maintain the integrity of democratic
institutions, it is imperative that the government prosecutes Shengal in a manner
that inspires confidence
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