Jaipur: More than a month after a fast track court here acquitted 11 persons of the charge of involvement in the May 2008 Jaipur serial blasts, the Congress-led government in Rajasthan is yet to respond to demands for compensation to the exonerated youths on the Andhra Pradesh pattern and action against police officers who had framed innocent people in concocted terror cases.

With the ATS case crumbling in the court, civil rights groups here have blamed the ruling Congress for accepting “without demur” the claim of the previous BJP regime about having cracked the blasts case. Despite repeated calls, the state government has refused to review the probe or change the investigating team, which the activists said had adopted a “predetermined line.”  Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who had earlier given credit to the ATS for cracking the case, said after the December 9 judgment that he was “willing to probe” the role of police during the BJP regime. However, there has been no follow-up on his assurance during the past month.

Exonerating the 11 persons, the court held that the prosecution had failed to establish their links with the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and could not prove that they were involved in radical or terrorist activities or were promoting hatred and enmity between different communities. Having been denied bail, they spent the past three years and a half in the Central Jail here.

After the Andhra Pradesh Government paid Rs. 54.2 lakh as compensation earlier last month to 61 Muslim youths wrongly arrested and tortured in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, the ruling Congress here is finding it difficult to deal with the demand for similar reparations. The acquitted persons stated after their release that their life and career had been ruined and their families faced the stigma of being branded terrorists and anti-national.

State Minorities Commission Chairman M. Mahir Azad said that he had recommended the State Government for payment of compensation to all the acquitted persons. The National Commission for Minorities has also written a letter to the Chief Minister in this regard. Mr. Azad said the Commission had power to summon the guilty police officers and seek their explanation for falsely implicating innocent youths: “I will study the Andhra Pradesh court judgment and government notification before taking an [appropriate] action.”

Reacting to the State Government’s “continued silence” in the matter, the Rajasthan Muslim Forum said the court verdict had proved that “communalised officers” had targeted Muslim youths and affirmed that the ends of justice would only be met when such officers are punished.

Muslim Forum convenor Qari Moinuddin regretted that the ruling Congress was unwilling to take a “bold secular stand” on the issue and order a review of probe into the Jaipur blasts case. Despite the alleged role of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed outfits in the October 2007 Ajmer dargah blast coming to light, the State government was reluctant to have a fresh look in the Jaipur case, he said.

During the incarceration of the accused here, delegations of distinguished Muslim citizens from Kota, Baran and Jodhpur met several Congress leaders - in particular the then Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal - several times, but none of them agreed to intervene in the matter. Eventually, the innocent persons were mired in a protracted legal battle before the ATS case crumbled in the court.