Maha approaches SC against acquittal of 12 in Mumbai blasts

Hindustan Times

17 hours ago

A day after the Bombay High Court acquitted all 12 men convicted of planning and executing the July 11, 2006 serial bomb blasts on Mumbai's suburban rail network, including five on death row, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday rushed to the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the verdict and an urgent hearing of its appeal. Maha approaches SC against acquittal of 12 in Mumbai blasts
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state government, mentioned the matter before Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai, requesting that the petition be heard without delay. The CJI agreed to list the case for a hearing on July 24, even as he remarked: 'But we have been reading that some of them have already been released from jail.'
Responding to the observation, Mehta acknowledged the development but added: 'The state still wants the appeal to be heard expeditiously.' The special leave petition challenging the High Court judgment was filed earlier in the day.
The state's legal challenge argues that the High Court erred in reversing the trial court's judgment and seeks a stay on the acquittal to prevent further release of the accused.
The acquittals triggered political outrage, with Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday calling the verdict 'shocking' and vowing to challenge it in the Supreme Court.
The appeal comes in the wake of Monday's decision by the Bombay High Court, which overturned the 2015 convictions handed down by a special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The High Court held that the prosecution 'utterly failed to establish the offence beyond reasonable doubt,' describing the investigation as riddled with procedural lapses, unreliable evidence and grave violations of the accused's constitutional rights.
The 2006 blasts were among the deadliest terror attacks in India's history, killing 188 people and injuring 829. Seven powerful improvised explosive devices, planted in pressure cookers, ripped through first-class compartments of Mumbai's crowded local trains within six minutes during evening rush hour. The carnage left behind mangled steel and shattered lives, and prompted a massive terror investigation led by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
Within four months, 13 men were arrested by the ATS, which claimed that the attacks were orchestrated by former members of the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and aided by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The ATS further alleged that 12 Pakistani nationals had infiltrated India to provide explosives and training to the accused—claims that ultimately failed to stand judicial scrutiny.
In 2015, the MCOCA court convicted 12 of the 13 accused, awarding the death penalty to five and life imprisonment to the others. One man, Abdul Wahid Shaikh, a schoolteacher who refused to confess, was acquitted by the trial court. One of the 13 accused died during the lengthy appeals process before the Bombay High Court.
On Monday, the Bombay High Court bench of Justices Anil S Kilor and Shyam Chandak delivered a 400-page verdict that raised fundamental questions about the fairness of the investigation and trial. It described the prosecution's case as a 'deceptive closure' that undermined public trust while allowing the true culprits to remain at large.
The high court pointed out that the prosecution's reliance on confessional statements, which formed the bedrock of the ATS's case, was deeply flawed. Most of these statements, recorded between October 4 and 25, 2006, bore tell-tale signs of being 'cut-copy-paste' reproductions and raised suspicions of being extracted under coercion. Several accused retracted their confessions during trial, alleging torture in custody -- a claim the court found credible in light of procedural violations.
The high court also noted that the accused were not informed of their right to consult their lawyers before confessing, despite being represented by advocates on record. This, the court ruled, was a violation of their fundamental rights.
Furthermore, it cast serious doubt on the credibility of eyewitnesses, including two taxi drivers and a few train passengers, who claimed to have seen the accused planting the bombs. Their testimonies, recorded more than 100 days after the incident and four years later during identification parades, were found to be unreliable. The test identification parades themselves were conducted by officials not authorised under law.
Material evidence, such as recovered RDX, circuit boards, pressure cookers, soldering guns and maps, was also deemed inadmissible. The court found that the chain of custody was broken and that the items were not properly sealed before being sent for forensic testing, casting doubt on their origin and connection to the accused. Additionally, the high court raised questions about the applicability of MCOCA in the case and noted serious procedural lapses in invoking its provisions.
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