dna edit: Stop targeting a community

The National Investigative Agency (NIA) chargesheet against four persons for planning and carrying out blasts in Malegaon, Maharashtra, in 2006, sets free the nine persons the state police had nabbed. The twin blasts, which took place outside a mosque, had claimed 37 lives.

The four men chargesheeted are all Hindus. Religion comes into play for a tragic reason.

Soon after the blasts, the Maharashtra police had arrested nine men, all Muslims, and held them in jail for over five years. In fact, it was only after the NIA took over the investigation that the focus shifted to radical Hindu groups. The state police, it now appears, had merely picked up a few Muslim men to show it was doing its job, and held them. In 2011, the NIA allowed the nine Muslim men out on bail.

Arresting Muslim men is now the Pavlovian response to any and every bomb blast, and reflects the police’s anti-Muslim mindset. While this case pertains to Maharashtra, the anti-Muslim bias is common across the country, as various studies and events have shown.

Moreover, under the draconian anti-terrorism laws, men held on charges of terrorism can be denied bail for years, even if little actual evidence is found against them. The years of incarceration breaks the spirit of the men and destroys their families; worse, it deepens the chasm between the communities of our society.

The police must learn from its mistakes. Investigations today need to be far more sophisticated, insightful, and nuanced. No longer can the police, or any security agency, simply pick up people at random, based on prejudice or limited information. As a country and society, we must not allow that to happen. Let us stop targeting a community, and target the terrorists, regardless of their religion, race, or ethnicity. The Malegaon blasts have only reiterated that terrorists have no religion.