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Tortured, told to implicate Yogi, witness told court | Mumbai News - Times of India

Mumbai: One of the 39 witnesses who turned hostile in the Malegaon blast trial claimed he was detained for several days and forced to implicate five RSS members, including now Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, reports Rebecca Samervel. Reacting to his and other testimonies, the NIA judge has expressed concern about methods of torture and illegal detention adopted by ATS officers and raised questions about credibility of evidence collected. The judgment detailing reasons for acquitting the seven accused of plotting a bomb blast notes that "almost all those witnesses...deposed that they had not given their statements voluntarily, but their statements were taken as dictated under coercion by the officers of ATS."Expressing concern over illegal detention and torture by ATS officers, the NIA judge, in his judgment in the Malegaon blast case, has noted that several witnesses had deposed that their statements were not voluntary. Special judge A K Lahoti said while no formal complaints were filed by such witnesses against the ATS, this alone was not sufficient to dismiss their testimony as false. "It is a well-acknowledged aspect of human behavior that the decision to lodge complaints is influenced by various subjective factors, including personal courage, perception of risk, psychological trauma and apprehension of future retaliation," he said.The judge also lauded those witnesses who demonstrated courage by filing complaints against ATS personnel, specifically alleging acts of torture, harassment and illegal detention. He noted that facts admitted by the NIA investigating officer (deputy SP Anil Dubey) in his cross examination show that during the probe the ATS officers "tortured, illegally detained" not only witnesses but also the accused. "This underscores the credibility of such allegations," the judge said.The court said, "Whereas advocates for the accused had submitted that the statements of witnesses were taken forcefully by ATS, those statements were involuntary and contents were written without their knowledge. They were tortured, ill-treated, detained by ATS officers in order to please the then government and specific community."He also pointed out that allegations of "misconduct, torture, illegal detention have been levelled exclusively against ATS officers and no such accusations have been made against any officer of the NIA", which raised "serious concern" about credibility of evidence collected by ATS officers during the course of investigation. The NIA took over investigations from ATS in 2011. Both agencies conducted independent investigations into the 2008 blast which killed six people and filed separate chargesheets upon completion of the probe.Another critical aspect of the judgment addresses the prosecution's failure to examine key "material witnesses". The statements of key witnesses relating to the alleged conspiracy, the meetings, and other incriminating circumstances "have not sufficiently supported the case of the prosecuting agency", the judge said. While acknowledging that prosecutors have the discretion to select witnesses, the judge noted that if "relevant witnesses are not examined or kept back or dropped", the court may draw an "adverse inference" against the prosecution.The judge also cast doubt on the evidence of witnesses who turned up to depose years after the incident, stating that "considerable lapse of time" had led to "natural lapses in memory and narration". This, combined with "contradictions, omissions, embellishments, and other infirmities", made it "unsafe for the court to rely on such evidence".The judgment concludes by reiterating that "evidence on record creates grave suspicion against the accused but merely on suspicion there cannot be a conviction". It was on this basis that the court extended the "benefit of doubt" to the accused, leading to their acquittal.

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