India's terror probes: A study in injustice, delays

New Delhi: After a terror attack, Investigations move at snail’s pace and the guilty are far from being punished.

July 26, 2008: 22 serial blasts kill 49 in Ahmedabad. Police claim the mastermind was Abdul Subhan Querishi or Tauqeer of the Indian Mujahideen. While some alleged members of the group are arrested, Quereshi remains untraced.

November 7, 2006: Train attacks in Mumbai kill 209, injuring 700. Despite several arrests, the trial is still pending in Supreme Court. The key accused say they confessed under torture. The case is now in limbo.

October 2008: Blasts in Assam claimed 97 lives. The Government blamed the National Democratic Front of Bodoland. 11 are arrested but not the key suspects. The STF failed to come to a conclusion. The case is now with the CBI and the verdict still not out.

May 2007: Dozens of Muslim youth taken into custody – in connection with the Mecca Masjid blast - only to be let out months later. No one arrested or charged. In March this year, the Home Minister said the "investigation had turned cold" as prime suspect Shahid Bilal was believed to be killed in Pakistan.

Abu Salem, one of the key accused in the '93 serial blasts was deported to India after much drama in 2005, remains in custody. His trial has dragged over four years already. A TADA court filed eight charges against him for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

The fate of Afzal Guru, sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in 2004 for his role in the 2001 attack on Parliament, still hangs balance.

March 2006: In connection with the Sankat Mochan temple blast in Varanasi, Waliullah was paraded by the STF as the mastermind, belonging to the Bangladesh terror group HUJI. The police even got him to say so.

But in September 2008, days after the Delhi serial blasts, the police raided an alleged Indian Mujahideen hideout killing two, arresting one alleged terrorist.

The police were quick to blame the Delhi blasts, the Ahmedabad blasts, the Jaipur blasts and the Varanasi blasts on this one group.

In this changing of tracks, people fear that those actually responsible are still running free. In this confusion and muddle - the battle against terror is often the casualty.