High court issues notice to those discharged in 2006 Malegaon blasts case

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday issued notices to eight persons who were discharged earlier this year from the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case, seeking a response to a petition filed by the Maharashtra government against their discharge. The state has moved the high court in appeal against the order of sessions court discharging the eight accused, all Muslims. In April, the sessions court here discharged these men of all terror charges after the National Investigation Agency submitted that the blasts were the handiwork of a Hindu extremist group. The state government, however, urged the high court to set aside the order. The division bench of justices RV More and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi issued notices to the eight persons and sought their replies in four weeks. In its appeal, the government said the sessions court’s order was illegal and unjust and was contrary to the evidence on record. The state claimed the trial court’s conclusion that Muslims would not plant bombs inside a mosque was wrong and had no legal basis. The serial bomb blasts outside a cemetery near Hamidia mosque at Malegaon, near Nashik, on 8 September 2006, claimed 37 lives and injured over 100 people.