2006 Malegaon blasts: Bombay HC seeks discharged persons' response in four-week

Seeking their response on a petition filed by the Maharashtra Government, the Bombay High Court has issued notices to eight persons, who were discharged in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case by a special court on April 26.

A division bench of justices R.V. More and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi issued notices to the eight persons - Noorul Huda, Raees Ahmed, Salman Farsi, Farogh Magdumi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali, Asif Khan, Mohammed Zahid and Abrar Ahmed - on Thursday, seeking their replies in four weeks.

The special court's decision to absolve the accused of all terror charges was based on the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) findings that showed the 2006 blasts were the handiwork of a Hindu extremist group.

After the special court's verdict, the state government filed an appeal before the high court, challenging the order to discharge the eight accused. The state government urged the high court to set aside the order.

The state government contended that the sessions' court's order was "illegal and unjust", and was contrary to the evidence on record.

In its appeal, the Maharashtra Government argued that 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 September 8, 2006, claimed 37 lives and injured over 100 people.