New Delhi, Jul 22 . The Maharashtra government today moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court’s recent decision to acquit all twelve accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, nearly a decade after a special court had awarded death penalty to five and life sentences to seven others.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the State government’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) before Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai, seeking urgent listing.
“It is a serious matter. SLP is ready. Please list it tomorrow. There is urgency,” Mehta submitted.
“We read 8 accused released already,” CJI Gavai responded, before agreeing to list the matter for hearing tomorrow.
The case relates to the serial bomb blasts on July 11, 2006, when seven bombs exploded in suburban trains on Mumbai’s Western Railway line, killing 187 people and injuring over 800.
Following a prolonged trial under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), a special court in October 2015 had sentenced five accused – Kamal Ansari, Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui, Naveed Hussain Khan and Asif Khan – to death for planting the bombs.
Kamal Ansari, however, died due to COVID-19 in Nagpur prison in 2021.
Seven others – Tanveer Ahmed Ansari, Mohammed Majid Shafi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali Alam, Mohammed Sajid Margub Ansari, Muzzammil Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Suhail Mehmood Shaikh, and Zameer Ahmed Latifur Rehman Shaikh – were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Their appeals against conviction and sentence, along with the trial court’s reference for confirmation of death sentences under Section 366 of Cr., were heard by a Bombay High Court Bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak.
The High Court acquitted all accused, observing that the prosecution “utterly failed in establishing the case beyond reasonable doubts.”
The Court described the investigation and trial as fraught with serious irregularities, giving the public a “misleading sense of resolution” while “the true threat remains at large.”
It found prosecution witness testimonies unreliable and noted that there was no reason for taxi drivers or fellow passengers to remember the accused after nearly 100 days.
Regarding recovery of bombs, guns, and maps, the Court termed it immaterial as the prosecution could not even identify the type of bomb used in the blasts.
. SNG .
