A bench comprising Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh issued notices to all the acquitted individuals and sought their response to the appeal filed by the Maharashtra state government. The apex court also directed that the Bombay High Court judgement shall not be treated as a precedent in any other case.
Earlier this week, a special bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak had acquitted all 12 accused, citing the prosecution’s complete failure to prove the charges. The court remarked that it was “hard to believe the accused committed the crime”, overturning the verdict delivered by the special court in 2015.
Of the 12 convicted, five had been sentenced to death and seven to life imprisonment by the special court. Notably, one of the death row convicts passed away in 2021.
The coordinated serial blasts occurred on July 11, 2006, targeting Mumbai’s Western Line suburban trains during the evening rush hour. Seven powerful explosions tore through first-class compartments of packed local trains, resulting in the deaths of over 180 people and injuries to more than 800 others.
The Bombay High Court’s verdict, which allowed the appeals of the convicts, was seen as a major setback for the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). The ATS had led the investigation and maintained that the accused were members of the banned outfit Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), and that they conspired with Pakistani operatives of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to carry out the terror attack.
With the Supreme Court’s intervention, the acquittals are now under judicial review, and the final word on the 2006 blasts case remains pending.
