ATS not in favour of fair trial: BJP

Friday, November 21, 2008 at 8:11 am

A day after the ATS invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) on all those arrested in the Malegaon blast case, the BJP has hit out at the investigating authorities. The MCOCA is a stringent law which allows the state to keep the accused in detention, without a trial.

Now, BJP leaders claim the ATS is not in favour of a fair trial of the accused. The BJP had earlier even raised questions on the neutrality of Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad.

Party spokesperson, Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “The ATS is not interested in investigation, fair trial and justice. The treatement and the action against Malegaon blasts seems a suspect as far as the ATS’s intentions are concerned.”

BJP president Rajnath Singh and several party leaders have also targetted the ATS and have accused there is a political conspiracy behind the Malegaon probe.

Meanwhile, rebutting senior BJP leader LK Advani’s charge, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had said that there was no political pressure on it in handling the Malegaon blast probe nor was there any substance in the charge that accused Lt Col P S Purohit was tortured in custody.

“There is zero political pressure and we are working professionally…Purohit has said in open court that ATS has not ill treated him,” ATS head Hemant Karkare told reporters.

Regarding Advani’s allegation that Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, another arrested accused in the case, was ill treated by the ATS, he said the matter was sub-judice and he would not like to say anything at the moment.

The Sadhvi and Purohit are among the ten suspects arrested for the September 29 blast that killed six persons. Karkare said “despite media reports and his (Purohit’s) relatives saying he was ill treated he told the court that there was no such thing.”

Dayanand Pandey had also said he was ill treated but the court did not see any marks and medical reports also found the allegations to be incorrect, Karkare said.

Pandey, when produced in a Nashik court on November 14, had alleged he had been physically tortured by the ATS after being arrested. He was taken to the magistrate’s chambers where he was examined but no marks of torture were found, he said.

“In this case, like all cases, we adhere to methods prescribed under the CrPC and we use witness statements, technical evidence and interrogation,” Karkare said.

(With inputs from agencies)

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

ATS not in favour of fair trial: BJP

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