‘To whom should I go for justice now?': Pain, anger among Mumbai train blasts victims' families

Indian Express

4 days ago

On the evening of July 11, 2006, Mahendra Pitale was travelling home from work. Like most days, he stood at the door of an overcrowded North-bound local train. Around 6 pm, as the train approached Jogeshwari station, a powerful blast tore through the coach, throwing him out. He woke up the next day in hospital to find his left arm amputated.
Nineteen years later, with the High Court on Monday acquitting all 12 accused in the 7/11 Mumbai train bomb blasts, Pitale says, 'This one day is more unjust than the 19 years of suffering we have gone through. My only expectation now is that if these were not the perpetrators, then find the real culprits. I am convinced that the investigation fell short.'
The court also set aside a special court verdict that had awarded the death sentence to five convicts, and refused the Maharashtra government's plea seeking confirmation of their sentences.
On July 11, 2006, a series of bombs had ripped through seven local trains in Mumbai, killing 187 people and injuring 824.
Following Monday's verdict by a special High Court bench of Justices Anil S Kilor and Shyam C Chandak, the victims of the blast and their families expressed their disappointment.
Ramesh Naik, who lost his 27-year-old daughter Nandini when a bomb went off on a train at Borivali, says, 'We waited for 19 long years for justice, but was it delivered? After 19 years, we are being told that the accused are not guilty. To whom should I go for justice now? Who should I hold responsible – the judiciary or the government? Nandini had just graduated from college and was about to start her career.'
Months before the blast, Naik had lost his younger daughter Rachana to an illness. The two consecutive tragedies left the family shattered.
Anuj Kilawala, who worked as a development officer with a private firm, was among the dead. His wife Chandika Kilawala says, 'The government always fails to provide speedy justice to the victims. If it had not been for my daughter, who took over the family business, we would have struggled.'
In another part of the city, Chirag Chauhan calls the verdict a 'failure of the judiciary'. In 2006, Chirag, then a CA student, was returning from his articleship when a blast went off on a train near Jogeshwari. While Chauhan survived the blast, an injury to his spinal cord left him paralysed waist down.
'The judgment is shocking. This is not just about me; there are hundreds of others who were victims of this attack. I am yet to go through the whole judgment but I don't understand why this has happened. We are hoping to appeal the verdict in the higher court,' he says.
Hansraj Kanojia, 55, walks on crutches since he injured his legs in the blast. That day, he was returning from his workplace to his home in Goregaon, when the bomb went off on the train. 'The incident may have happened 19 years ago but the wounds are still fresh. I remember the blasts vividly – everyday. The incident altered my life and I think about it every moment I walk. Like me, all the victims would have hoped to get some sense of justice from the administration. But today's judgment today is a complete failure of the administration. How is it that they haven't been able to find those responsible for these attacks?'
Usha Sharad Bobhate's husband Sharad Bobhate, a manager at the Punjab National Bank in Sion, was on a train in Matunga when the blasts hit. Usha says that on July 11, 2006, she didn't get the usual evening call from Sharad. 'He would always call me while leaving office to ask if he needed to pick anything from the market. However, that day, I got no calls from him and I kept getting restless. How was I to know that he would never come back home that day?' she says. 'I simply cannot believe that the court let the accused get away. Isn't the court meant to deliver justice?'