Hyderabad: The major Muslim organisations in Hyderabad have demanded that the Makkah Masjid blast case either be re-tried, or the verdict of the NIA special court be challenged in the High Court.
A delegation of Muslim leaders led by the Hyderabd MP and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi met the state governor E.S.L. Narasimhan on Thursday and demanded a retrial.
A memorandum presented by the delegation to the governor highlighted various acts of omission and commission by the investigative agency National Investigation Agency leading to the weakening of the case and acquittal of the five accused belonging to the Hindu right wing groups.
Earlier several Muslim organisations also held a massive protest meeting in the city last evening, which was addressed by the prominent city Muslim leaders and representatives of various organisations.
Addressing the mammoth gathering Asaduddin Owaisi said the blast case should be heard afresh under Sections 173, sub section 8 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
“If the survivors of any of the victims of the blast are willing to fight a legal battle, MIM and other Muslim organisations will extend them the assistance”, he said.
Owaisi was of the view that if the families of the survivors become parties in the case, that would have a major impact.
He said the protest was not against the judiciary but against the negligence and the bias shows by the NIA during the trial.
A total of 9 people were killed, while 58 others were injured in the bomb blast during the Friday congregation in the historic Makkah mosque of Hyderabad on May 18, 2007.
“The NIA weakened the case in an organised manner at the behest of the political masters”, Owaisi said. He contrasted the attitude of the NIA in the Makkah case with its handling of the Dilsukhnagar bomb blast case in which a special court was set up at Charalapally jail to try Yaseen Bhatkal and two other accused.
“During the trial a senior IPS officer used to be present. This serious interest of the investigative agency and the prosecution resulted in the accused getting convicted and the court gave them death penalty,” he said.
He said when two of the accused in the Makkah Masjid blast case were granted bail on March 12, 2014, he had personally contacted the then Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and asked him to challenge the bail, by the then Congress government did nothing.
After the Narendra Modi government came to power, when the trial began in June 2014, the NIA changed its lawyer and appointed a person who had not even fought one murder case in his life, he said.
More than 60 witnesses turned hostile and material evidence vanished. He said an unexploded bomb was found wrapped in a red shirt at the mosque.
However during the trial the shirt, which was vital evidence, vanished.
“The case was deliberately weakened to save the saffron clad accused,” he said.
Owaisi alleged it was not only in the Makkah Masjid but the government had been trying to save the accused in other such cases including the Malegaon and Smajhauta express blasts.
“This is the first government which instead of supporting the victims of terrorist attacks was standing with accused,” he said demanding to know the position of the government.
The other speakers at the meet included Hamid Mohammad Khan of Jamat-e-Islami Hind, Ziauddin Nayyar of Tameer-e-Millat, Moulana Jafar Pasha, Moulana Qabool Pasha Shuttari and Moulana Safi Ahmad Madani.
