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Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
The end of an error
The Bombay High Court acquitted all 12 accused in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case from 2006, when bombs ripped through the Western Suburban Railway, killing 189 people and injuring 800 others. A special bench of Justices Anil S Kilor and Shyam C Chandak observed that the prosecution 'utterly failed' to prove their case. Their convictions were quashed and set aside. More embarrassingly for the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, the court was scathing about the lapses in the investigation, noting, '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.' To put a time frame in perspective, one of the falsely accused in the Mumbai train blasts case was arrested when his daughter was six months old. He's been released when she's in college. Meanwhile, the actual perpetrators of this terrorist act roam free. The families of the victims must endure the frustration of being denied closure, yet again. This was a high-profile case with intense media scrutiny and public pressure. One naively believes the authorities would leave nothing to chance while zeroing in on the culprits. Which is what makes it so much more frightening that despite all that focussed attention, the wrong people were incarcerated. It sends shivers down one's spine to think how justice is arrived at in less important matters in India — and how many people may be languishing in jails for crimes they didn't commit. Some situations are too tragic to fully comprehend, but it's clear these men have been through a surreal, never-ending nightmare that's harder to process, because it's the state that's inflicted the damage. Their free-falling ordeal is eerily reminiscent of Franz Kafka's 1925 masterpiece The Trial, where a man stands accused of a crime he can't recollect and whose nature is never revealed to him. Unlike Kafka's ill-fated protagonist who's executed in an abandoned quarry, these men have survived, but it's not like life is going to be all peaches and cream going forward. Much like the terrorising bureaucracy in The Trial that wields absolute power over the condemned individual, these exonerated men have been dehumanised. Being marked in public memory means they'll be tested, over and over again. Labels like 'terrorist' are tough to shake off. Resurrecting an identity and career, catching up on the changes in the world in two decades, presents considerable challenges. Criminal justice failures capture our imaginations because they speak so profoundly to the human condition, to fundamental questions about punishment, ambition and ethics. Throughout history, in mythology and in reality, there have been people who couldn't get a fair trial. Think of Joseph in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New. Believers make sense of a bad hand by dividing the Universe into halves of heaven and hell. Contemplating karmic retribution and ancient Biblical proverbs, that declare a day of Judgment when an all-knowing God will prevail, is one way of finding solace in a confusingly unjust world. Then there are those who imagine the Universe has a third layer, earth, that contains elements of both, beauty and terror. Injustice is a recurring theme in philosophical inquiry and art-form. The beautifully executed The Shawshank Redemption (1994) explores what it takes to keep hope alive when faced with a murder rap. The iconic line, Get busy living or get busy dying reflects stoicism; when life is spiralling out of control, all we can do is control our reaction to it. There are no satisfying answers to why so many innocent people are tossed around by twists in destiny. It's a sobering thought that everybody's more vulnerable when a morally bankrupt government is in charge. The writer is director, Hutkay Films
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Indian Express
Bombay HC sets aside man's conviction, death penalty for rape of 2-year-old girl
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday set aside a February 2022 trial court verdict that convicted and sentenced a labourer to death for raping a two-and-a-half-year-old girl in Pune district in February 2021. It directed the fast-track trial court to re-hear arguments based on additional evidence and decide the case afresh, in accordance with law and 'without being influenced' by the high court's order. 'Since this is a case of capital punishment, the court has to ensure that all opportunities are afforded to the accused to defend himself. The accused must get one opportunity to argue all aspects with respect to additional evidence before the trial court itself, so that he does not lose one forum,' the High Court said. A bench of Justices Sarang V Kotwal and Shyam C Chandak passed the order while considering the state government's plea seeking confirmation of the death sentence awarded to Sanjay Baban Katkar, along with Katkar's appeal challenging his conviction. According to police, in February 2021, the girl was kidnapped from outside her home while she was playing in the front yard. The investigation relied on the account of a rickshaw driver who had dropped a man and a child nearby, and a local woman who directed police towards the route taken by the man. The girl was found dead inside a cement pipe next to a bridge, and medical examination revealed she was raped. Police arrested a brick-kiln worker, who was convicted and sentenced to death under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. However, he was not sentenced for the offence of murder. In his interim application appealing the conviction, among other claims, the worker argued that the forensic experts who prepared key DNA reports were not examined during the trial, denying him the chance to challenge their findings. He also sought lab records and worksheets to scrutinise the evidence. The high court, in July last year, had directed the trial court to comply with these requests, after which the record and proceedings were sent to the high court. Advocate Rebecca Gonsalves, representing the accused worker, argued that the matter needed to be remanded to the special court in light of a Supreme Court judgment in another case with 'strikingly similar' facts and issues. The high court referred to the SC judgment and found it 'necessary to remand back the matter.' It added that the trial court can consider additional evidence and ascertain its cumulative effect with other evidence. However, the trial court should not conduct a full re-trial or re-record all evidence. 'If this course is not adopted, then the accused would lose his valuable right to having the entire evidence appreciated by the first forum, i.e., the trial court. We are ensuring that this does not happen and he gets full opportunity to raise all grounds based on additional evidence before the trial court,' the bench noted.
Hans India
22-07-2025
- Hans India
HC acquits all 12 accused
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday set aside a special court verdict that awarded the death sentence to five convicts in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts and refused the Maharashtra government's plea seeking confirmation of their sentences. The High Court acquitted all 12 accused in the case, including those sentenced to life imprisonment. The special bench of Justices Anil S Kilor and Shyam C Chandak questioned the trustworthiness of certain prosecution witnesses and the Test Identification Parade (TIP) of some of the accused. The bench ordered their release, if they are not required to be detained in any other case, and directed all of them to execute personal bonds of Rs 25,000 each. Finding substance in the case of defence lawyers, the bench observed that the prosecution 'utterly failed to establish the offences beyond a reasonable doubt against the accused on each count.' The bench led by Justice Kilor held, 'It is unsafe to reach the satisfaction that the appellant accused have committed the offence for which they have been convicted and sentenced. Therefore, the accused judgment and order of conviction and sentence are liable to be quashed and set aside' There were 13 accused, of whom one was acquitted by the special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA). Of the 12, five were sentenced to death, one of whom died in prison during the pandemic, and seven were awarded a life term. The special bench passed the judgement over five months after it concluded the hearing on January 31. The Bombay High Court had conducted hearings over the span of six months from July last year. A series of bombs exploded on seven western suburban coaches, killing 189 commuters and injuring 824 on July 11, 2006. After an over eight-year trial, the special court under the MCOCA awarded the death penalty to five of the convicts, and life terms to seven others in September 2015.
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First Post
21-07-2025
- First Post
An engineer, a call centre operative and more… The 12 men now acquitted in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts
Nineteen years ago, on July 11, seven pressure cooker bombs exploded inside the coaches of Mumbai's suburban trains within 11 minutes, killing 188 people and injuring another 700. Now, the Bombay High Court has acquitted the 12 men, who were initially found guilty of conspiracy and terror charges. But why? read more A forensic officer at the site of a damaged railway train compartment hit by the serial bomb blast in Mumbai in July 12, 2006. Seven bombs went off in the country's financial hub vital commuter rail network killing hundreds. Now, 19 years later, the 12 accused have been acquitted. File image/Reuters Eleven minutes — that's all it took to shake India's financial capital. On July 11, 2006, seven bombs packed in pressure cookers tore through first-class coaches on the city's suburban train line, turning evening commutes into carnage. The explosions at Mumbai's Mahim, Bandra, Khar, Jogeshwari, Borivali, Matunga Road and Mira Road resulted in the deaths of 188 people, and injuring another 700. Nineteen years later, the Bombay High Court has made an unprecedented move; Justices Anil S Kilor and Shyam C Chandak have acquitted all 12 accused in the case — five of them were on death row — noting the evidence provided by the prosecution wasn't sufficient to convict them. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD What exactly happened in the 2006 train blasts? Who are the 12 accused who have been let off and more importantly, why? 11 minutes of terror unfold in Mumbai July 11, 2006 was like any other day in Mumbai. Working men and women had finished a long day's work and making their way home using the lifeline — the suburban trains. However, at 6.24 pm, serial explosions occurred along the railway line, continuing until 6.35 pm. Following the explosions, investigators found that the bombs were concealed inside pressure cookers filled with high-grade RDX and ammonium nitrate. Forensics revealed that the explosives were designed to rupture metal and flesh. These bombs were detonated using sophisticated timers, ensuring coordinated chaos. Security officials gather near a damaged local train compartment hit by the serial blasts in Mumbai in July 2006. File image/Reuters In the days following the blast, Maharashtra's ATS began a long-winding investigation, which included the examination of 250 witnesses, studying hundreds of documents, maps and phone records. At the end of it all, in 2015, a trial court convicted 12 people in the blasts — the special court of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act sentenced Kamal Ansari, Faisal Sheikh, Asif Khan, Ehtesham Sidduqui and Naveed Khan to death. Seven other convicts Mohammed Sajid Ansari, Mohammed Ali, Dr Tanveer Ansari, Majid Shafi, Muzzammil Shaikh, Sohail Shaikh and Zamir Shaikh were sentenced to life imprisonment for being part of the conspiracy. From sentenced to acquitted — the 12 men involved Following the sentencing, the 12 convicts filed appeals against their convictions and sentences. And in July 2024, a special bench was constituted to hear the matter on a day-to-day basis. This resulted in today's (July 21) development; the court acquitting all 12 of the accused after the 'the prosecution utterly failed in establishing the case beyond reasonable doubts'. But who are these 12 men? 1) Kamal Ansari: Hailing from Bihar, the 50-year-old was found guilty and sentenced to death in the Mumbai 7/11 blasts. He was also of planting the bomb that exploded at Mumbai's Matunga. Awaiting his death sentence at Nagpur prison, Ansari died in 2021 as a result of contracting Covid-19. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 2) Faisal Sheikh: According to the ATS investigation, Sheikh was responsible for the explosion at Jogeshwari station. Authorities revealed that he was a wanted man even before the blasts — he was on the radar since 2004, at a time which he was deported by Saudi Arabia for illegally staying there. After Saudi, he went to Pakistan and reportedly received training at the Bahawalpur terror camp, which is known to be the Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror hub. 'I didn't want to come to India and wanted to stay in Pakistan and prove my loyalty with Muslims. But my trainers told me that if I wanted to prove my loyalty with Muslims then I should go back to India and avenge the killing of Muslims in hundreds of riots across India,' Faisal has believed to have confessed to the police soon after getting arrested in 2006 in the blast case. Besides laying the bomb, Sheikh also sent youths to that country for training purpose. He had also attended conspiracy meetings besides giving shelter to Pakistani nationals. He was also sentenced to death in this matter. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 3) Asif Khan: Hailing from Maharashtra's Jalgaon, procured explosive material and planted a bomb, which exploded at Borivali station. Authorities noted that he was an active member of SIMI — the Students Islamic Movement of India, a banned Islamist organisation. After the blasts, Khan fled Mumbai and shifted to Belgaum. He was the last accused to be arrested in the case and later given the death sentence. One of the 12 men who were convicted of involvement in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts. File image/AFP 4) Ehtesham Sidduqui: At the time of the bombings, Sidduqui, then 30-years-old, was the joint secretary of SIMI, the banned group in India. Hailing from Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur, he came to Maharashtra to pursue his education in engineering. However, he dropped out and soon enrolled in SIMI. As for his involvement in the blasts, Siddiqui conducted reconnaissance of local trains. He was also present when bombs were made. He planted an explosive in a local train, which exploded at Mira Road station. For this, he was on death row. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 5) Naveed Khan: Born in Kuwait, Khan reportedly developed a strong friendship with Faisal Shaikh, who was believed to be responsible for funding the entire blasts. Working as a call centre employee at the time of the blasts, the police stated that he was in contact with all the accused and was the one responsible for placing the bomb that exploded at Khar. He too, was on death row. 6) Mohammed Sajid Ansari: A resident of Mumbai, he was awarded the life sentence in the Mumbai 7/11 blasts for allegedly procuring timers for the bombs and helping to assemble them. He also reportedly harboured two Pakistani nationals at his residence. 7) Mohammed Ali: A resident of Mumbai's Shivaji Nagar, he was charged with assembling bombs at his house with the help of Pakistanis who had sneaked into India. For this, he was given life imprisonment. According to investigators, he was part of the SIMI group. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 8) Dr Tanveer Ansari: A resident of Mumbai, the doctor became a SIMI member and was sentenced to life for his involvement in the Mumbai 7/11 blasts. Authorities note that he received arms training in Pakistan and also surveyed local trains in Mumbai to plan the blasts. In 2015, the trial court had found 12 men guilty of the 2006 Mumbai train bombings. However, now the Mumbai High Court has acquitted them. File image/AFP 9) Majid Shafi: He arranged for transportation of Pakistani nationals to Mumbai via Bangladesh border and back after the blasts. 10) Muzzammil Shaikh: A software engineer, he received arms training in Pakistan. He surveyed the local trains that were to be bombed. He is the youngest accused in the case. According to an Indian Express report, two of his brothers — Faisal and Raahil — are believed to be the main planners of the conspiracy. Raahil was never caught. 11) Sohail Shaikh: Sentenced to life, a resident of Pune, he reportedly received arms training in Pakistan and surveyed the trains to be targeted. He also received hawala money from absconding accused, Rizwan Dhaware for the execution of the blasts. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 12) Zamir Shaikh: A Mumbai resident, he surveyed local trains and helped assemble the bombs. He received life imprisonment for his involvement in the blasts. Reasons for court to acquit them But why exactly did the court acquit these 12 in the Mumbai blasts case? There are a number of reasons why high court bench of Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Shyam Chandak overturned the trial court's judgment. The high court pointed out serious flaws in the prosecution's case; they noted that key witnesses in the blasts were unreliable, identification parades that were held with authority and confessional statements were tortured out of the accused. In its judgment, the high court noted, 'The defence had raised serious questions about the test identification parade. Many witnesses remained silent for unusually long periods, some over four years, and then suddenly identified the accused. This is abnormal. Hence, their conviction is quashed and set aside. The 2006 Mumbai serial bomb blasts survivor Mahindra Pitale pays tribute to the victims on its 17th anniversary at Mahim railway Station, in Mumbai back in 2023. File image/PTI 'The confessional statements are found to be incomplete and not truthful as some parts are a copy-paste of each other. The accused persons have proved their case that torture was inflicted at the time,' it added. The high court also slammed the prosecution for failing to examine crucial witnesses. For instance, the court found that the testimony provided by the taxi drivers who drove the accused to Churchgate were 'not trustworthy' and 'cannot be made basis for the conviction'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It also questioned the handling of the evidence; in the matter of 'recoveries like RDX and other explosive material, the prosecution could not establish that the evidence was sacrosanct until it reached the Forensic Science Laboratory,' the bench said. With inputs from agencies
Indian Express
21-07-2025
- Indian Express
2006 Mumbai train blasts: Bombay HC acquits all 12 accused, sets aside their death penalty and life terms
The Bombay High Court Monday set aside a special court verdict that awarded the death sentence to five accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts, and refused the Maharashtra Government's plea seeking confirmation of their sentences. The high court acquitted all 12 accused in the case, including those sentenced to life imprisonment. The special bench of Justices Anil S Kilor and Shyam C Chandak questioned the trustworthiness of certain prosecution witnesses and the Test Identification Parade (TIP) of some of the accused. The bench ordered their release, if they are not required to be detained in any other case, and directed all of them to execute personal bonds of Rs. 25,000 each. Finding substance in the case of defence lawyers, the bench observed that the prosecution 'utterly failed to establish the offences beyond a reasonable doubt against the accused on each count.' The bench led by Justice Kilor held, 'It is unsafe to reach the satisfaction that the appellant accused have committed the offence for which they have been convicted and sentenced. Therefore, the accused judgment and order of conviction and sentence are liable to be quashed and set aside' There were 13 accused, of whom one was acquitted by the special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA). Of the 12, five were sentenced to death, one of whom died in prison during the pandemic, and seven were awarded a life term. The special bench passed the judgement over five months after it concluded the hearing on January 31. The Bombay High Court had conducted hearings over the span of six months from July last year. Mumbai train bombings and the case A series of bombs exploded on seven western suburban coaches, killing 189 commuters and injuring 824 on July 11, 2006. After an over eight-year trial, the special court under the MCOCA awarded the death penalty to five of the convicts, and life terms to seven others in September 2015. The death sentences were awarded on charges of spreading terror, organised crime, criminal conspiracy and murder under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Explosives Substances Act, 1908, MC OCA, Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Railways Act, 1989. The convicts are lodged at various prisons across the state, including Yerawada and Amravati central jails, for over 18 years. They filed the pleas after they were convicted by the special court, and the matter had been pending since then. There were 250 witnesses, including 92 prosecution witnesses, and the evidence in the case spanned over 169 volumes, and the judgments of death sentences of nearly 2,000 pages. Five convicts awarded the death penalty are Kamal Ahmed Mohd Vakil Ansari from Bihar, Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh from Mumbai, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddique from Thane, Naveed Hussain Khan from Secunderabad, and Asif Khan Bashir Khan from Jalgaon in Maharashtra. All of them were found guilty of planting the bombs. Tanveer Ahmed Mohammed Ibrahim Ansari, Mohammed Majid Mohammed Shafi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali Alam Shaikh, Mohammed Sajid Margub Ansari, Muzammil Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Suhail Mehmood Shaikh, and Zameer Ahmed Latifur Rehman Shaikh were awarded life terms. One of the accused, Wahid Shaikh, was acquitted by the trial court after spending nine years in jail. Maharashtra Govt vs defence In 2015, the Maharashtra Government approached the Bombay High Court with pleas seeking confirmation of the death penalty granted to five convicts in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings. On the other hand, the convicts filed appeals challenging the special court order. As the convicts sought speedy disposal of the matter, which had been pending since 2015, the HC in July 2024 constituted a special bench led by Justice Kilor, which conducted regular hearings through more than 75 sittings over the span of six months. Senior lawyer S Muralidhar (former Delhi HC judge), Senior Advocates Nitya Ramakrishnan and S Nagamuthu, along with Advocates Yug Mohit Chaudhry and Payoshi Roy, represented the convicts, whereas Senior Advocate Raja Thakare, appointed as special public prosecutor (SPP), appeared for the Maharashtra Government. The lawyers representing the convicts argued that their 'extra-judicial confessional statements' obtained by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) through 'torture' were inadmissible under the law. They also argued the convicts were falsely implicated, innocent, and were languishing in jail for 18 years without substantial evidence, and their prime years were gone in incarceration. They said the trial court erred in convicting them, and, therefore, the said order set aside. On its part, the Maharashtra Government opposed the appeals by the convicts, claiming the probe agency provided sufficient evidence to establish it was a 'rarest of the rare' case to sentence the accused to the death penalty.
