The Bombay High Court has overturned a special court verdict in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, acquitting all 12 accused, including five who had been sentenced to death and seven to life imprisonment. A special bench comprising Justices Anil S. Kilor and Shyam C. Chandak dismissed the Maharashtra Government’s plea seeking confirmation of the death sentences.
The High Court cited significant doubts regarding the trustworthiness of certain prosecution witnesses and issues with the Test Identification Parade (TIP) of some accused. The bench firmly stated that the prosecution utterly failed to establish the offences beyond a reasonable doubt against the accused on each count, deeming it unsafe to reach the satisfaction that the appellant accused have committed the offence.
Consequently, the previous convictions and sentences have been quashed, and the accused are to be released if not required in other cases, upon executing personal bonds of ₹25,000 each. The judgment comes over five months after the special bench concluded its hearings on January 31, following six months of intensive proceedings from July last year. The original blasts, a series of seven bombings on Western suburban coaches on July 11, 2006, tragically killed 189 commuters and injured 824 others. After an eight-year trial, a special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) had convicted the individuals in September 2015.
The convicts, who have been imprisoned for over 18 years across various jails, had filed appeals challenging the special court's order. This landmark acquittal follows protracted legal proceedings, with the defence lawyers successfully arguing that the prosecution's case lacked conclusive evidence.
