2006 Mumbai train bombings: India court acquits 12 men
On 11 July 2006, seven blasts ripped through the busy commuter trains during the evening rush hour in one of India's deadliest terror attacks.The bombs, packed into seven pressure cookers and put in bags, detonated within six minutes of each other.The blasts took place in the areas of Matunga, Khar, Mahim, Jogeshwari, Borivali and Mira Road, with most on moving trains and two at stations.The bombs appeared to have targeted first-class compartments, as commuters were returning home from the city's financial district.Indian security agencies blamed the attack on Islamic militants backed by Pakistan, an allegation the country denied.The accused, who were arrested shortly after the blasts, have been in jail since then. One of them, Kamal Ansari, who had been sentenced to death, died of Covid in 2021.In 2015, a special court convicted the men of murder, conspiracy and waging war against the country. The prosecution appealed to confirm the death sentences, while the defence sought acquittal.In July 2024, the Bombay High Court formed the two-judge bench to expedite the hearings. Reports say that over the next six months, the court conducted more than 75 sittings and examined 92 prosecution witnesses and over 50 defence witnesses.In the 667-page order on Monday, the court noted that the defence had questioned the credibility of the witnesses produced by the prosecution, as well as the confessional statements made by the accused. It also acknowledged the defence's contention that the recovered evidence was not maintained in a "sealed condition throughout".Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
13 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Girl, 15, is gang-raped on her way back from birthday party before escaping only to be sexually assaulted by truck driver who offered her a lift in India
A 15-year-old girl was abducted and gang raped on her way back home from a birthday party, only to be sexually assaulted again by a driver who offered her a lift after she escaped. Police say the girl was initially taken by three men on Sunday in south Odisha's Malkangiri, India, and driven 10 to 15 kilometres from the town, where she was allegedly tortured and raped. After fleeing, she attempted to return home and was picked up by a truck driver on the Malkangiri-Jeypore highway at Bijaghati. But her ordeal was far from over when the man reportedly raped her as well. Residents are said to have rescued the girl after spotting her with the driver. She later reported the incident to the police. The teenager's parents had lodged a missing persons report after she failed to return home from the party. Four suspects have been arrested and identified as Manoj Harijan, Rohit Kumar Hial, Bira Bhartia, and the driver, Sobham Singh, who local media reports is 26 years old. Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Vinodh Patil said: 'All four persons involved in the crime have been arrested.' Former chief minister Naveen Patnaik condemned the incident and warned about the uptick in violence against women in the area. The girl was initially taken by three men in south Odisha's Malkangiri, India, and driven 10 to 15 kilometres from the town, where she was allegedly tortured and raped He said: 'A disturbing wave of crimes against women is gripping Odisha… 'This surge in sexual assaults reflects a troubling erosion of law enforcement. When the various ranks of the police face interference and political pressure, accountability weakens - and women and girls pay the price first.' He also spoke about how the area has been added to a list of places where American employees must seek approval before travelling. 'Without urgent and decisive police action and political will backing it, this problem will only grow', he added.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
India to resume issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens
HONG KONG, July 23 (Reuters) - India will resume issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens from July 24 this year, its embassy in China said on Wednesday, the first time in five years as both countries move to repair their rocky relationship. Tensions between the two countries escalated following a 2020 military clash along their disputed Himalayan border. In response, India imposed restrictions on Chinese investments, banned hundreds of popular Chinese apps and cut passenger routes. China suspended visas to Indian citizens and other foreigners around the same time due to the COVID-19 pandemic but lifted those restrictions in 2022, when it resumed issuing visas for students and business travellers. Tourist visas for Indian nationals remained restricted until March this year, when both countries agreed to resume direct air service. Relations have gradually improved, with several high-level meetings taking place last year, including talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Russia in October. India and China share a 3,800 km (2,400-mile) border that has been disputed since the 1950s. The two countries fought a brief but brutal border war in 1962 and negotiations to settle the dispute have made slow progress. In July, India's foreign minister stated that both countries must resolve border friction, pull back troops and avoid "restrictive trade measures" to normalise their relationship, he told China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
VS Achuthanandan: Thousands pay tribute to veteran Indian communist leader
Thousands are paying their respects to veteran Indian communist leader VS Achuthanandan whose funeral will be held on as he was popularly known, died on Monday at the age of 101. He was a founding member of India's largest communist party and a former chief minister of the southern state of of thousands of people have thronged the streets to pay tribute to the politician, widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Kerala's political to drop out of school as a child, Achuthanandan overcame grinding poverty and torture in police custody to become one of the state's most beloved leaders. He was being treated at a hospital in Thiruvananathapuram after suffering a cardiac arrest last month. His funeral will be held near his hometown in Alappuzha district with full state honours. "Fighting for the rights of the oppressed and the exploited was the guiding principle of his life," MA Baby, general secretary of Achuthanandan's party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M), wrote in tribute. He described the leader as "the epitome of struggle".Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, also from the CPI(M), called Achuthanandan a "limitless repository of inspiration and lessons".Apart from being Kerala's chief minister, Achuthanandan was the state's leader of opposition three times and a member of the CPI(M)'s Politburo for 23 popularity among Indian communists rivals only that of Jyoti Basu, the long-serving West Bengal chief minister and CPI(M) co-founder. But unlike the London-educated Basu, Achuthanandan came from humble roots and didn't finish school. While Basu shaped his legacy in power, Achuthanandan did so from the streets, championing people's issues as an opposition leader. Achuthanandan started working young after losing his mother at four and father at 11. As a teen in a coir factory, he joined the undivided Communist Party at 17 and began organising agricultural workers in Travancore in then British-ruled Antony, a former Kerala chief minister from the Congress party, said that as a school student in the 1960s, he would wait beside paddy fields to listen to Achuthanandan's speeches."Achuthanandan's life and struggles and the torture and beatings he endured in the vanguard of the communist agitations for bonded agriculture workers in Kuttanad are unequalled and historical," he was quoted as saying by The Hindu led a 1946 revolt against the state authorities, in which hundreds of communists were reportedly killed. He went underground, was later arrested, tortured in custody, and spent five years in jail. His work spanned labour rights, land rights, education, women's right, anti-corruption measures and environmental protection. A staunch communist, Achuthanandan wasn't afraid to defy his party - most notably when he met the widow of TP Chandrasekharan, murdered in 2012 by a gang that included former CPI(M) colleagues after he broke away to form his own public outcry forced the CPI(M) to reverse its attempts to sideline him in 2006 and 2011, Achuthanandan served as Kerala's chief minister (2006–2011) before retiring from public life following a 2019 stroke and living with his son in BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
