Malegaon blasts case: Home after five years, accused reunite with their families

Malegaon : Among the seven young men who were released on bail in Mumbai on Wednesday, after a special MCOCA court finally granted them bail, was Abrar Ahmed. A powerloom businessman in 2006 Ahmed was charged of planting the bomb that claimed 31 lives in Malegaon. But after five long years, tearful scenes awaited as he made his way home to his aged parents and other family members today.

Abrar Ahmed's father could not hid his joy as he said,  "I am thankful to God that all the innocent people have been released on bail.....the case is still pending though...the real culprits (for Malegaon)  should be found and arrested."  But being released could not make up for the years in jail as Abrar's statement to NDTV confirmed. He said: "The five years were extremely terrible...people should be punished for making us go through this."

Abrar Ahmed and six others - Noor ul Huda Shamshudioha Ansari, Shabbir Ahmed Masiullah, Raees Ahmed, Dr Salman Farsi, Dr Farukh Maghdumi, Mohammed Ali, Mohammed Zahid, Asif Bashir Khan men are among the nine accused who had been granted bail earlier this month after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) told a special court that it wouldn't oppose their bail plea. They were arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in 2006 and charged with orchestrating blasts in Malegaon that killed 31 people. They were booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) that denied them bail for five years.

Reacting to the verdict former Union Home Secretary GK Pillai said: "I think it is a tragedy. They have lost very valuable years of their life in jail. For no crime, for no fault of theirs."  he  said.  Pillai who was Union Home Secretary when the men were sentenced  added: "And to that extent I think the state owes them a apology, compensation and rehabilitation. I think that no doubt this has to be done. But I think the more important issue is to see where did we wrong in the investigation. And how did the investigation lead to these people and see whether we have any lessons to learn from that. So that such mistakes are not repeated in future."

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Even as seven of the nine have been released, two of them - Mohammed Ali and Asif Khan - continue to remain in jail as they have also been charged for involvement in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case. All of them are alleged to be members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

"We are happy and justified. We are innocent and were wrongly arrested. Feel like a pigeon who has been released from a cage", Noorul, one of the accused said, summing up his feelings, on being released from jail.

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For the accused and their kin, it was vindication as they had been claiming innocence. In an internal note, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had, in April, told the NIA that the nine men arrested were innocent and that only members of the right-wing group arrested last year should be probed for the blasts. The review came after Swami Aseemanand's confession in January this year, which pointed to the involvement of right-wing groups in the Malegaon blasts. The case was then re-investigated, though the Swami later retracted his confession in March. The special MCOCA court, hearing the case, finally granted them bail earlier this month. However, the final report in the case by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is yet to be filed.

Meanwhile, politics had begun even before the seven men were freed.

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"This is secularism in the Congress' parlance. In their own nation, Hindus are labelled as terrorists, while others like Kasab and Afzal Guru have still not been hanged", Uddhav Thackeray, Executive President of the Shiv Sena said.

The Congress, meanwhile, tried to corner some credit for the release. "We have been continuously demanding to the government to conduct an enquiry against ATS officers because of whom injustice was being done with innocents for the past five-and-a-half years. It's not about the Congress or the NCP; we are demanding action against ATS officers for their irresponsible acts", Congress MLA Naseem Khan said.

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The families of the accused are also demanding answers on who would compensate for the lost years. For the seven men too, chapter isn't closed yet as their fate still depends on the final report that the NIA will file in the days to come.