Eyewitnesses sealed fate of accused in Malav Bhagol massacre case

The entire prosecution argument in the trial of the Malav Bhagol massacre case was based on eyewitness accounts. The prosecution argued that the eyewitnesses had actually identified many of the guilty people. The defence, on the other hand, argued that there were many contradictions in the accounts of the eyewitnesses.

“The case was based on eyewitness accounts because there was no direct, medical or scientific evidence, that could implicate the accused,” said CK Patel, the defence counsel.

He claimed that the eyewitnesses had given contradictory statements, first before the police and then before the SIT. “Then they came out with entirely different stories during their testimony in court. We will expose it when we appeal before the high court,” Patel said.

Regarding the medical and scientific evidence in the case, Patel said the bodies of the three missing people or their remains were not found. “Even medical evidence did not suggest homicide,” he said.

Defence lawyer Ashwin Dhagat said that he had not gone through the judgment of the case. “But we assume the court had gone by eyewitness accounts in coming to its decision,” he said.

However, even the victim’s lawyer said that they would be moving the high court against the special court’s judgment. “Evidence and eyewitness accounts were available against many other accused as well. We respect the court’s ruling but we will move the high court,” said Irsha Saiyad, the lawyer of the victims.

Earlier, during the trial, the victims’ lawyer had demanded arraignment of 19 more accused in the case. However, the court had implicated only four of the 19 but all the four were acquitted on Friday.