Malegaon (Maharashtra), Jul 31 (PTI) The verdict of the trial court in the 2008 Malegaon blast was unacceptable and he will move even the Supreme Court to get justice if necessary, said the father of Farheen (10), the youngest victim of the tragedy, on Thursday.
"The court's judgement is wrong. We will go to the Supreme Court to seek justice," said 67-year-old Liyaqat Shaikh, showing a photograph of his daughter as he spoke to the media in Malegaon town of north Maharashtra.
The special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday acquitted all seven accused in the case including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit.
Recalling the incident, Shaikh, who then worked as a driver, said Farheen had left house to buy `vada-pav' (a snack) at Bhikku Chowk on the evening of September 29, 2008.
"I heard the sound of a blast. We lived near the blast site, in a tin-roof house. Splinters were found on the roof of our house afterwards. I went to look for my daughter but could not find her. It was dark outside. Somebody said there was a girl among the injured. My wife and I ran to the hospital, where we found her in a bad situation," he said.
Then Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare had arrested the accused persons with enough evidence, he said.
Six persons including Liyaqat Shaikh's daughter were killed and 101 injured in the blast.
Nisar Ahmed, whose son Sayyed Azhar was one of those who died, said they did not get justice and will approach higher courts. Victims of any blast, whichever religion they may belong to, should get justice, he said.
Usman Khan, whose nephew Irfan Khan (22) died in the blast, said Irfan drove an auto rickshaw and had gone out to have tea at Bhikku Chowk when the blast ripped through the place.
"First we took him to a local hospital, from there we took him to Nashik," he said, adding the doctors at the Nashik hospital asked them to take him to Mumbai.
He was shifted to the government-run J J Hospital in Mumbai but died after 10 hours of treatment, Khan said.
He was not happy with the verdict, he said. "First some Muslims were arrested in the case, and they got a clean chit later. Now these people too were not convicted, so who was the culprit?" he asked.
The victim families would file an independent appeal against the judgement, said advocate Shahid Nadeem who represented some of them.