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At last, case against Gorakhpu blast accused
Tariq Qasmi withdrawn
The Uttar Pradesh government Wednesday withdrew the case against
Tariq Qasmi, prime accused in the Gorakhpur bomb blasts of May 22,
2007 which left six people, including a woman, injured. The move
followed a recommendation from the district administration
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Lucknow: In a blow to
the Akhilesh Yadav government, a Barabanki district court Friday
dismissed its request to withdraw cases against alleged terrorists
Tariq Qasmi and Khalid Mujahid, involved in the 2007 serial blasts
in Gorakhpur.
The state government, in its petition before the court, had
pleaded that it had decided to set the two accused free to
"promote communal harmony and public interest".
The court, while rejecting the state's plea, said the government
has failed to specify and define the two terms used as the reason
for appealing to free the two accused.
Randhir Singh Suman, lawyer for the accused Qasmi, told IANS that
Special Sessions Judge (SC/ST) Kalpana Mishra rejected the
government's petition, which was put forth on April 26.
"Other than these reasons, the court also observed that the state
government had not appended an affidavit with the petition," Suman
said.
The judge rapped the government for presenting before it the
highly sensitive documents openly, rather than in a sealed
envelope.
Citing these three reasons, the court rejected the government plea
to withdraw the cases against the two accused in the Gorakhpur
bomb blasts of May 22, 2007, which left six people, including a
woman, injured.
The Samajwadi Party (SP), from time to time, has been assuring the
minority community that "false charges" slapped on "innocent
Muslims" would be withdrawn.
The government had moved for the withdrawal of the case, following
a recommendation from the district administration to the state
home department.
Qasmi was picked up by the Special Task Force (STF) soon after the
blasts after he was found to be in touch with
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) activists.
This was the first time charges of terrorism were sought to be
withdrawn since the SP government under Akhilesh Yadav government
was sworn in last year.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which slammed the Akhilesh Yadav
government for this move, said Friday that its stand has been
vindicated by the court.
"This is a major slap on the face of the SP government, which was
trying to appease minorities for their votes by withdrawing cases
against such terrorism accused," said Vijay Bahadur Pathak, state
spokesman of the BJP.
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