Home minister Amit Shah. (ANI)

NEW DELHI: The Samjhauta Express blast case was deliberately manipulated to create a scenario that sought to link the bombing to a specific religion and there was no evidence against the accused finally let off by the court, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday.

Hitting back at the opposition for raising concerns over the government’s move to strengthen the National Investigation Agency ( NIA ), Shah said the Modi government was not responsible that justice was not served as the case had been led in a particular direction with the real culprits released and others held for a crime they did not commit.

“Seven people were arrested for the Samjhauta blast. A case was created to connect the blasts to a specific religion, culprits were released and new people were arrested. How could have they received punishment? There was no evidence against them. Who is responsible that justice wasn’t served to the victims of the Samjhauta blast? Because it is not us,” Shah said during a three-hour debate on the National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in Rajya Sabha .

The minister’s remarks were a response to doubts raised that the law might be misused against certain communities and Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s criticism that the NIA had “failed” to investigate the Samjhauta blasts.

The bill — which was passed in Lok Sabha on July 15 — was eventually passed by the upper House, a significant success for the government as it again indicated that Rajya Sabha has become less of a hurdle than was the case in the previous Modi government where legislations were often stalled.

Shah’s remarks were a sharp attack on Congress, which he has repeatedly accused of manipulating terror cases for political benefit by seeking to create a false equivalence between jihadi terrorism and Hindu groups. The dismissal of cases against several Hindutva figures, and the selection of Sadhvi Pragya as nominee for Bhopal, had been part of BJP’s election time bid to project Congress as “anti-Hindu”.

Pointing to the “failure” of the NIA in properly investigating the Samjhauta blasts, Singhvi said despite being a premier agency, its rate of prosecution remained dismal and even the judge in the Samjhauta case had said there were gaping holes in the prosecution evidence. He also cited the Malegoan blast case to drive home his point.

Opposition members raised doubts that the amendments would enable the Centre to intervene into states’ right to policing.

“Under Section 6, state power is bypassed. The issue of federalism is a cause for concern. If human trafficking and cyber crimes go in central list, then there is big chance of conflict. Then, cyber crime can become cyber terrorism and states’ right could be used,” TMC leader Derek O’Brien said.

Congress member Vivek Tankha said, “NIA is a policing agency... it is facing challenges and one day there may be a situation where NIA enactment will be struck down (by court).”

