Jaipur blast acquittals: Ashok Gehlot on sticky wicket as both Sachin Pilot, BJP take aim

“This is a very serious issue. We all remember when the blasts took place, so many people lost their lives. The accused were arrested, the case went on for so many years, the lower court sentenced them to death. The Home Ministry, the Law Department should self-introspect, that despite being sentenced to death before… I read in newspapers that the High Court said the investigation wasn’t properly conducted…,” Pilot told reporters on Thursday.

Flagging a “botched investigation” caused by “institutional failure”, the Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday acquitted all four men who were sentenced to death in 2019 over the bomb blasts in which 71 people were killed and 185 were injured.

In its judgment, the court said the investigation was “not fair” and observed that “nefarious means” were employed by investigating agencies. The court has directed the state government to take action against erring officials.

Pilot’s call for self-introspection by the two ministries is noteworthy since the Home Ministry is held by CM Gehlot himself and the law portfolio is with Gehlot’s trusted aide and Cabinet Minister Shanti Dhariwal.

Last September, Dhariwal had organised a parallel meeting of Congress MLAs at his residence, convincing them to skip an official Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting. It was the Gehlot faction’s bid to stop the high command from installing Pilot as the CM.

“This is a very serious issue and I feel that inquiry should be conducted against those responsible and find out how this could happen. Someone must have been behind the blasts, no? They received the death penalty from a lower court. It is one thing to lessen the quantum of punishment or disagreement but to acquit them because of evidence! If agencies are not able to work or collect evidence properly and are unable to present it strongly, then it is a very big issue and an inquiry should be done. Home Ministry, Law Ministry, whatever it is, inquiry should be done and action should be taken against whoever is responsible,” Pilot said, adding that the government should immediately appeal against the High Court verdict.

Back in 2019, after the trial court sentenced the four accused to death, Gehlot welcomed the verdict, asserting that the right decision had been taken. After Wednesday’s verdict, the CM has been guarded, avoiding talk about the acquittal. The government has said it will appeal against the verdict in the Supreme Court.

The Opposition BJP, meanwhile, has found a handle against the BJP. Newly crowned state BJP president C P Joshi issued a statement after the verdict, accusing the government of “weakly arguing” the case. He also accused the Gehlot government of practising “appeasement politics” and alleged that in the past, too, the government had engaged in “appeasement politics”, mentioning the murder of Udaipur-based tailor Kanhaiya Lal and Karauli communal clashes last year.

While the bomb blasts took place in 2008 when a BJP government was in power, the chargesheets were filed during Gehlot’s previous tenure as CM between December 2008 and December 2013.

However, a senior BJP leader from Rajasthan said it might be wrong to call the investigation botched because based on the very same investigation the trial court had sentenced the accused to death in 2019 during the tenure of the present Congress government.