Acquitting seven accused in the Malegaon blast case, the Special NIA court said on Friday that the prosecution’s claim could not be proved that the right -wing organization Abhinav Bharat had carried out the incident. Not only this, the court said in two words that till date the Central Government has neither declared this organization as a terrorist organization nor put it in the list of illegal institution.
Special Judge AK Lahoti clearly stated in his detailed decision of more than 1000 pages that the Maharashtra ATS investigation report repeatedly claimed that all the accused were active members of Abhinav India. This organization used to act like an organized gang. But the court made it clear that this claim was not confirmed with strong evidence. Abhinav Bharat is not a banned organization today.
The Special Judge wrote in his judgment, “Abhinav Bharat Trust or Institution or Organization or Foundation has never been banned under the illegal activities (prevention) Act.” The prosecution agencies used the word Abhinav Bharat repeatedly from remand to the final hearing, but it was just a general reference or common colloquial form, not on any legal or formal documentary basis.
Abhinav Bharat Trust was established in the year 2007
Judge Lahoti clearly stated that if the central government feels that Abhinav Bharat is involved in illegal activities, it should have issued a notification to declare this organization banned. But till date no such notification has come on record. The Abhinav Bharat Trust was established in the year 2007. It is registered in Pune Charity Office. Its trust deed does not record objectives related to criminal activity.
To promote patriotism and religious activities aim
When the court visited the trust deed, it was found that it has been written only like promoting patriotism and religious activities. The prosecution could not prove that accused like Pragya Singh Thakur, Sameer Kulkarni and Sudhakar Chaturvedi were once members of this trust. The prosecution claimed that Abhinav Bharat was established in 2007 by the accused Lt Col Purohit.
Investigation agencies had made these allegations against Abhinav India
He said that the purpose of this organization was to change the Indian Constitution to lay the foundation of a new Hindu nation. The goal of this organization was to convert India into a separate nation called Aryavarta. For this, a conspiracy was hatched in Malegaon between January and September 2008. But the court dismissed these allegations and said that there is no concrete evidence that the purpose of Abhinav India was to do so.
Court refuses to consider Abhinav India as a terrorist organization
The prosecution also alleged that Abhinav Bharat had collected 21 lakh rupees. The accused were going to use it to buy weapons and ammunition. But the court said that to prove this allegation, the prosecution could not produce any concrete documents or witnesses. In this entire case, the court acquitted seven accused and refused to consider Abhinav Bharat as a terrorist organization.
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