7/11 train blasts: ATS to decide next steps after analysing Bombay HC's acquittal verdict
Maharashtra ATS
will decide the future course of action after analysing the
Bombay High Court
verdict which acquitted all 12 accused in the 7/11 Mumbai train bomb blasts case and consulting the
special public prosecutor
.
Nineteen years after seven train blasts here killed more than 180 persons, the High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 accused, saying the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case and it was "hard to believe the accused committed the crime".
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The HC judgement comes as a major embarrassment to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which probed the case. The agency had claimed that the accused were members of the banned outfit
Students' Islamic Movement of India
(SIMI) and had hatched the conspiracy with Pakistani members of terror group
Lashkar-e-Taiba
(LeT).
The ATS stated that the special
MCOCA court
on September 30, 2015, handed
capital punishment
to five accused and
life imprisonment
to seven others, while acquitting another in the July 11, 2006, serial train blasts case.
The ATS said ASG Raja Thakare and Special Public Prosecutor Chimalkar argued for the state in the HC over appeals on the confirmation of the death penalty and life sentence.
Live Events
The matter was heard between July 2024 and January 27, 2025, when the prosecution and defence completed their respective arguments.
The high court rejected the death reference of the five accused and acquitted the seven convicted accused by accepting their appeal and cancelled the order of the MCOCA court, the ATS statement said.
Accordingly, the ATS will consult the special public prosecutor and analyse the High Court's judgement before deciding the next action.
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Indian Express
17 minutes ago
- Indian Express
19 years after Mumbai train attack, there is no closure — only unanswered questions
Nineteen years ago, sophisticated bombs ripped through seven local trains in Mumbai within 11 minutes. They killed 189 people, and injured 816. In less than three months, the Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra Police arrested 13 individuals, named another 15 in hiding as accused, and claimed to have cracked the case. Stringent anti-terror laws, from the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, were invoked, and the investigators claimed the accused had confessed to their crimes. They were subsequently tried and awarded sentences of life imprisonment and the death penalty in 2015. On Monday, the Bombay High Court acquitted 12 men, highlighting critical procedural lapses in the investigation. The 617-page verdict raises important questions about how an investigation in a case that shook the nation is riddled with worrying loose ends and gaps. Justice Anil S Kilor begins with a disquieting assessment of the case: 'Punishing the actual perpetrator of a crime is a concrete and essential step toward curbing criminal activities, upholding the rule of law, and ensuring the safety and security of citizens. But creating a false appearance of having solved a case by presenting that the accused have been brought to justice gives a misleading sense of resolution. This deceptive closure undermines public trust and falsely reassures society, while in reality, the true threat remains at large.' The High Court ruling points to a series of serious lapses in the investigation, from picking and choosing eyewitnesses, reliance on maps allegedly recovered from the accused, and how confessional statements were obtained. The court notes the serious allegations and medical evidence of custodial torture of the accused. The ruling shows that even the basic element of the case — the nature of the bombs used — was not established with cogent evidence by the prosecution. The state did not have adequate reasons or material evidence, the court held, to grant sanction to prosecute the accused under MCOCA. This is a crucial step in the process when stringent anti-terror laws are invoked. These are laws enacted with the stated goal of combating terror threats that give the state wide powers. They reverse the burden of proof, allow prolonged detention and powers of invasive surveillance, and relax evidentiary standards. It is worrying that Maharashtra Police could not establish the case even to this standard. 'The prosecution has utterly failed to establish the offence beyond a reasonable doubt against the accused on each count, it is unsafe to reach the satisfaction that the Appellants/Accused have committed the offences for which they have been convicted and sentenced,' the court said. Strict anti-terror laws provide a legal framework for the state. But rigorous and fair investigations are crucial for their effectiveness and legitimacy. It is true that there is immense pressure on the state when a gruesome attack, such as this one, is perpetrated on the people. But that makes it even more important that it holds itself to high standards of investigation. Botched investigations and trials that span decades do an added injustice to the victims. The state has a right to appeal the verdict before the Supreme Court, where the final word lies. For now, 19 years later, there is no closure for families of the victims.
Hans India
17 minutes ago
- Hans India
MyVoice: Views of our readers 22nd July 2025
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Time of India
44 minutes ago
- Time of India
2006 Mumbai train blasts: Nothing about al-Qaeda manual, says Bombay HC; after 19 years behind bars, 11 men acquitted
MUMBAI: After over six months of hearing and going through more than 44,000 pages of record, Bombay HC concluded the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) had no case against the 12 accused in the 11/7 train blasts case. Over two decades ago, bombs planted on first-class compartments exploded during the peak evening commute at seven locations on the Western Railway suburban network. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai They ripped metal and lives between Khar Road and Santacruz, Bandra and Khar Road, Jogeshwari and Mahim Junction, Mira Road and Bhayander, Matunga and Mahim Junction, and Borivli. The prosecution case was of sophisticated explosive RDX being used, of accused being members of terror outfits like SIMI who received training in Pakistan, and of 15 wanted accused, mainly Pakistanis. While the trial court's special MCOCA judge Y D Shinde in 2015 said special public prosecutor Raja Thakare had rightly described the accused as "merchants of death" and Thakare argued that the trial verdict could not be dislodged and the noose be confirmed, the HC noted the prosecution case had unravelled completely. The HC also held that the prosecution failed to prove what kind of explosive was used. It said no importance can be attached to claims of recovery of RDX, circuit boards and detonators, as prosecution failed to prove custody chain before analysis. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 15 most beautiful women in the world Undo The dozen men were in prison all along since their arrests in 2006. While one of them died in 2021, the 11 whose appeals were allowed joined on Monday via video-conferencing from prisons across the state, including Pune's Yerawada and prisons in Nashik, Amravati and Nagpur. "Bahut bahut shukriya Sir," said a convict, in white prison uniform with a white topi, on video conference from Yerawada, when defence lawyer Yug Chaudhri, conveyed to them in Hindi that they all stood freed. The HC, in a detailed analysis of the case and evidence on record, said while "prosecution has referred to Al-Qaeda Manual for many things, nothing is brought on record about it." The prosecution case was that wanted accused Azam Cheema alias Babaji, a Pakistani national, and two of the accused given death sentence as planters had conspired since 1999 to wage war against the govt of India and were in touch with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Conspiracy meetings were held in Bandra and one accused brought six Pakistanis to Mumbai in 2006, ATS had said. HC wondered why no CDRs were brought on record. "The alleged connection of the accused with Azam Cheema and members of LeT could have been established with the help of CDRs," HC said. The HC classified prosecution witnesses in four categories: for identification, eyewitnesses of bomb assembly, of conspiracy, and taxi drivers who allegedly ferried two planters. The court discarded their testimonies as doubtful. For one who claimed to have been to a planter's (A3, an alleged 'jihadist') house where he allegedly saw a few Pakistanis whose names he recalled but did not know what the meeting was for, the HC, doubting his credibility, said that "at the same time, he could not recollect the name of a particular dancer, with whom he had a close relationship for over a month in the same year. " Kamal Ansari, given death sentence by the trial judge, died in 2021. He too stood acquitted by HC. Apart from convicts' appeals, before the HC was the state's reference for death sentence confirmation, as required by law for capital punishment to become executable. Thakare and Avdhoot Chimalkar for the state argued the appeals were fit to be dismissed. The conviction relied primarily on the confessions of 11 accused under the stringent MCOCA Act to nail them. Before HC, an alleged planter Naved Khan, from Nagpur prison, had said he suffered "needlessly for 19 years" and while lives were lost, innocents could not be hanged.
