Congress' indifference towards arrest of Muslim youths on false charges of terrorism, ruining lives and careers

For years, it was known that Maharashtra ATS had implicated innocent Muslim youths in Malegaon case.

Still, it took nearly a decade, before they could be finally acquitted and released.

In ten years, these youths were tortured and suffered immensely. Their families were affected, the careers and lives were ruined.

The latest Hindustan Times report by Harinder Baweja and Farhan Shaikh, titled, 'How Malegaon's innocents lost 10 years of their lives', once again brings to fore the horrific tragedy, the custodial tortures these youths suffered.

Is that how a democratic nation treats its citizens? If the police can't find the perpetrators or certain officials want to save the real terrorists, they catch innocent Muslims, and frame them as terrorists.

The then officers of ATS who were involved in this frame-up haven't faced any inquiry or action, as yet. Had it not been a sensitive officer like Hemant Karkare, who later took upon the task to investigate the case and painstakingly tracked the gang involved in the act, these youths won't have been released today.

Congress' role disgraceful: Innocent Muslims arrested, languished in jail in Congress regimes

In fact, it is the role of Congress that is truly pathetic. Congress was in power at the Centre during this entire period. All agencies were functioning under it. UPA was not just at the helm in Delhi but also in the State.

In Maharashtra, Congress was continuously in power. But agencies continued to work on the 'agenda' to frame Muslim youths. How could it happen? Isn't Congress responsible.

Its leaders didn't insist on any audit of investigative agencies and minorities were kept out of IB-RAW. Also, Congress' leaders remained sympathetic to the Hindutva case.

Clearly, it is Congress--the self-styled secular party, that is responsible for the plight of innumerable Muslim youths languishing in jails in India. Still, it doesn't seem that the party has learnt anything. In the few states where it is in power, it still seems impotent to act against mischief-makers.

Malegaon's emergence as capital of Urdu language in India: When Urdu books worth Rs 1 million are sold in a day!

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Malegaon is today the capital* of Urdu in India and there can't be any doubt about it. A bustling town that has a population of nearly 6,00,000, it is today becoming the heart of Urdu culture in the country.

Just when we hear pessimism over decline in sale of books in most languages, a ten-day Urdu book fair organised at Malegaon, saw sale of Urdu books worth Rs 87 lakh [8.7 million].

This is a record in the country. In fact, many book fairs in metros where books of dozens of languages are available, don't match these figures.

The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) had organised the ten day book fare. On the last day alone, books worth Rs 10 lakh or 1 million were sold within a few hours. Imagine, these are figures from a city which is considered a backward place and where half of the population lives in slums and shanties.

Such was the excitement among Urdu lovers, that books worth Rs 8-9 lakh were sold every day during the 'Kitab Mela'. People came from Dhule, Jalgaon, Pune, Ahmadnagar, Akola, Bhiwandi and other places in the region, to buy books here.

With time, languages spread and thrive, hence, the linguistic landscape also changes. Once, Delhi, Lucknow, Rampur, were centres of Urdu in North India. Then, Deccan region that had seen the birth of early Urdu, once again preserved the language and its culture.

Now, the culture is thriving in middle-level cities and towns across the country.

Among them, Malegaon, is the most well-known. It is often said that the city has the most per capital presence of poets in the world.

It also has an abundance of Urdu publications.Malegaon is a city and municipal corporation in Nasik district in Maharashtra.

For decades, it has suffered official apathy, in terms of infrastructural development. A city of powerlooms, it was inhabited by migrant Muslims from Uttar Pradesh (UP), who fled from their hometowns after the first war of independence in 1857.

The City has over 70% Muslim population. Divided by the Mausam river, it is also known for the unique names of its mohallas and chaurahas like Tension Chowk, Rishwar Nagar, Chaon Chaon Road & Achanak Nagar. The recently concluded book fair makes it clear that there is no dearth of Urdu lovers in India.

Neither the language faces any bleak future. Those talk pessimistically about Urdu are those who aren't aware of the changing landscape. Today, Maharashtra, Karnataka and regions of Bihar, are the Dabistan-e-Urdu just like, UP-Delhi region was, once.

Also read, an interesting post on this blog, about the names of places in Malegaon:

Tale of Two cities with in a City: Tension Chowk, Achanak Nagar, Chaon Chaon Road & Rishwat Nagar

[*People from Hyderabad may differ and those in Sri Nagar may also claim that there is higher percentage of Urdu knowing populace in their cities but Urdu has wider influence in Malegaon despite it being a comparatively small place.]
[Photograph of Malegaon Municipal Corporation, above]

Muslim youths' unique protest in Malegaon: Against illegal detentions, indiscriminate arrests

Angry at the indiscriminate arrests & illegal detention of hundreds of Muslims in the aftermath of Malegaon blasts, a unique protest was held.

After the Friday namaaz, local residents wore the kind of masks which police make the accused to wear after their arrests.

Especially, when they bring them before journalists at press conferences. The protesters sat outside the Hamidia mosque and Bada Qabristan.

'Hum sab dahshad-gard hain, hamko bhi jail mein thuus do', was their message to the police officials and administration.

Hundreds of Muslims were wearing black bands on their arm as protest against the police high-handedness. 'In the eye of Maharashtra police, we are all terrorists', said one of the agitating youths. There is a feeling of persecution and that people were wrongly arrested.

The anguish had spilt on the street. A human chain was also formed against the police action [rounding up of hundreds of youths[. On November 14, the bandh has been called. But who will report such a protest?


Post-Script: I am adding to this post a few years later. The protest and the local residents' feeling was correct. People were framed. For Malegaon blasts, ATS under Hemant Karkare arrested Abhinav Bharat's activists. The Saffron terrorists are now in jail.

Tale of Two Towns in One Malegaon: Muslim majority town in Maharashtra

Where else you will hear such names? Except, in Malegaon, the unique Maharashtra town.


Tension Chowk= Rumours emerge from here, spread in the city and cause tension

Achanak Nagar=Things happen here suddenly, Hindus had to move out suddenly from here





ChaoN ChaoN Road= No Chinese food this, due to the cacophony and hungama, 'yahaan hamesha chaaoN chaaoN machii rahtii hai'.

In Indian Express Anuradha Nagaraj did a good story on Malegaon. The names of the localities apart from the abovementioned are:

Rishwat Nagar, Ayodhya Nagar, Bajrangwadi and Islamabad, Tashkent Nagar, Tamba Kata and the river that divides the Hindu and Muslim parts of Malegaon is known as Mausam. Prashant Nadkar has taken good photos for the feature.

The team of Sahara news network that visited Malegaon recently also presented a good story on the town. They reported well about this city, its uniqueness, complexities as well as insecurities. 


'When asked about rumours of a body that had fake moustaches, recovered by police, some Muslim youths said that it is no big issue, as Faqirs came from all over the country on Shab Baraat so not unusual to have a Hindu fakir trying to appear as a Muslim and hoping to earn more'. The paper praised the youths for maintaining sanity in the hour of crisis.

From Mumbai to Malegaon: Skewed vision of police & Congress government's apathy

Role of Maharashtra police in terror probes has been far from satisfactory

It was befitting the Congress politicians, though they'd never have in their wildest dream, imagined such a response.

Malegaon residents snubbed Sonia Gandhi & Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who landed here a day after the blasts.

The Congress chief and the State chief minister had come to this 'power loom town' for a display of their concern towards people and handing out 'charity' of disbursing the pittance of Rs 1 lakh for every dead when the families had barely finished with the last rites.

1. Compensation that was sanctioned for the kin of victims in the Mumbai blasts was Rs 5 lakh, so it seems even the second class citizens of a third class city [infrastructure-wise] could have been offered, at least, Rs 2 lakh!

The compensations vary [depending on media coverage and other factors] like a boy rescued from a borewell hole who gets Rs 3-4 lakh and free education for life for suviving in a deep pit to Rs 3-5 lakh in Gujarat and UP for victims of terrorism and riots respectively.

2. The City of 8 lakh [0.8 million, 70% Muslim] has just one municipal-run hospital of 30 beds and no ambulance. The victims had to be ferried on handcarts to hospital and due to lack of facilities and beds, taken as far away to Nasik.

3. Deshmukh and other leaders of his party had made false promises of opening hospital in the past but they never materialised in the last 50 years. It was the same Congress government in the state that had let the police loose on ordinary Muslims in the aftermath of serial blasts of Mumbai.

There were incidents like as many as 200 Muslims getting rounded up from a locality in midnight swoops and illegally detained and the officials [politicians also] refused to believe that any 'other' extremist organisation could be involved in the blasts.

4.Though I hate this nomenclature of terrorists as Hindu or Muslim but the attitude of police was inexplicable even after the incidents in Parbhani, Jalna and Nanded apart from the blasts in Jama Masjid in New Delhi and incidents in Maharashtra when the hand of Bajrang Dal and other extremist groups was found.

Malegaon: A City that has been targeted repeatedly

5. It is not that I believe that organisations with Muslim sounding names would not kill Muslims [nothing could be more foolish than this thought] but investigative agencies should not appear so sympathetic to Bajrang Dal despite its repeated involvement that has been proved.

"It was in April this year that a bomb went off at the residence of Bajrang Dal officebearer Naresh Rajkondwar in Nanded. Naresh and his accomplice Himanshu Phanse died on the spot. The police seized timer, switches, detonators, 1.5 kg gunpowder from the spot. 

Two other accused died in the incident. The narco-analysis report was submitted to the police but they were reluctant to divulge the information about the three accused", writes Times of India, in its report, published on April 12.

Similarly, Sanjana Chaudhary, member of Bajrang Dal was arrested for bomb blast at a mosque in Parbhani but probe has not progressed even after Chaudhary's arrest, writes Nitisha Natu in the news item 'Police grope in the dark on Hindu groups'.

Besides, several incidents in 2002-2003 suggested Bajrang Dal hand but what angers the Muslim community is that the police and the state government simply ignore them and are not ready to link any possibility of their involvement with the Malegaon blast.

6. Even the fact that skullcaps and fake beards were recovered from the Bajrang Dal activists [reported by many national dailies], the state government and its agencies were not interested in probing the organisations and the links of suspects.

7. I remember when the blast occurred in Nanded, the Home Minister RR Patil immediately named 'Islamic terrorists' in a hurriedly called press conference but when the accused were arrested, his enthusiasm was missing and he neither went for a deeper probe. The accused were not labelled as terrorists either.

Why this double standard? Everybody knows RSS cadres have a history of bomb-making and involvement in fanning communal hatred despite propaganda of its being a cultural organisation in recent years [one need not remind that their men were involved in killing Gandhi and its involvement found in innumerable riots].

CM Sudhakar Rao Naik AND 92-93 Mumbai riots

8. Such was the Congress state government and state-machinery's response to blasts that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to issue a statement and assert that 'role of Hindu organisations couldn't be ruled out' two days back.

But for Maharashtra government, it seems that a terrorist simply can't be a non-Muslim. The indiscriminate arrests of Muslims in the aftermath of Mumbai blasts suggested the approach.

The State Home department and Anti-Terror Squad of the state refused to believe that there could be another hand though the investigators were reportedly closing down on a group of Hindu extremists.

What angers the Muslims in Maharashtra is the chameleon like leaders of Congress though the Muslims have themselves fallen in the trap of the party due to lack of political alternative and the perpetual fear of BJP-Shiv Sena instilled by Congress leaders.

Time and again the Congress has come to power in Maharashtra with the promise of fair treatment to Muslims and the minorities have fallen in the trap again and again--the fear of 'right-wing BJP and the communal Shiv Sena'.

And after the PM's and Union Home Secretary's statements that involvement of no group could be categorically ruled out, the state police suddenly seems to have broadened the scope of their investigation process.

The ATS chief who had earlier 'ruled out the involvement of Hindu outfits' reached diametrically opposite stand of 'can't conform role of Hindu fundamentalist organisations yet'.

This was despite earlier leads as reported in papers that terrorist groups active in Kashmir would not have committed another incident as already terror trails were leading to Malegaon and it would have caused arrests of members of their sleeping cells.

Besides, there was belief of police that during Shab Barat such incident by a 'Muslim' terrorist group would 'antagonise Muslims' (as if Indian Muslims are not antagonised with terrorists already and Indian Muslims are't victims of terrorism)--Such communal vision in terror trail.

Now that most of the suspects caught are not Muslims, the point is not that Muslims can't be involved, anybody could be and must be treated alike. The investigators should be open-minded and must not be biased to such an extent, as witnessed recently.
9. Now the verdict for Mumbai blasts is all set to be delivered, it is pertinent to remember the role of the then Congress Chief Minister (late) Sudhakar Rao Naik. Of course, the Shiv Sena perpetrated the riots that caused over a 1,000 deaths but it was absolute inaction of Congress Chief Minister, who had refused to take action & let the rioters kill citizens in December- January 1992.

When prominent citizens approached him to rein in the rioters, he told them to go to Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray and request the latter to end the riots. The fate of the Justice Srikrishna Commission's report on riots is known to all.

The same Congress that promised action against policemen and politicians indicted by the Commission [part of its election promises] did not implement the report. Riots occurred before blasts but the petition for implementing the Commission report is pending with the Supreme Court. No effort was made to speed up the process for arrests of riot accused by government.

10. All terrorist acts are equally condemnable and the accused need toughest sentences. But absolute one-sided action and exonerating some militant groups just because they are not Muslim send bad signals. Except TOI and HT, Hindi and Marathi papers did not carry the stories about Bajrang Dal workers and the recovery of skull caps, fake beards. 

Why? [Does it not make a good copy like the one about mushrooming madarsas or madarsas breeding terror]. And when police and the other government agencies function in such a way, their credibility is seriously eroded. 


Unless there is confidence, share of information and good intelligence input would not come from the sections that feel alienated and persectued. Surely, the police and politicians must introspect for the sake of the nation.

And the worst is the politicians and mediamen parroting that Muslims and Hindus of Malegaon showed restrained and remained united. Fools, you think Muslims and Hindus who live in each and every town of India, are mad.

As if, we are ready to fight and kill each other in an hour of tragedy like the British thought of us: Hindus and Muslims, always raring to kill each other. Better you, politicians learn to control your own tongues and spare us of your biases. It would do good to all of us.

Read more posts on this blog on

1. Extra-judicial killings and Fake encounters
2. Terrorism