2006 Mumbai train blasts case: Maharashtra ATS moves SC against acquittal of all accused
The Anti-Terror Squad of the Mumbai police moved the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court's order acquitting all accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case on Tuesday. In an unprecedented development, the High Court acquitted all 12 accused in the case, including five on death row, on Monday.
Appearing for Maharashtra, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter before a bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and sought urgent listing of the matter. "It is a serious matter. SLP is ready. Please list it tomorrow. There is urgency," the solicitor general said. The CJI reportedly has agreed to hear the matter on July 24.
The Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 held in connection with the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case. A special bench of the court comprising Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak acquitted all the accused in the case, including those on death row, citing lack of evidence against the accused.
The bench said the prosecution "utterly failed" in proving charges against the accused. "The prosecution has utterly failed to prove the case against the accused. It is hard to believe that the accused committed the crime. Hence, their conviction is quashed and set aside," the High Court said.
The bench noted the prosecution witnesses were unreliable and the investigators failed to identify the type of explosives used for the blast. The bench also discredited the confession statements of the accused, citing evidence of custodial torture.
"It is beyond the realm of reasonable imagination that the sequence of names mentioned in two separate confessional statements would be exactly the same. While it is possible that the names of co-accused individuals may appear in multiple confessions, the precise order in which these names are listed should naturally vary from one statement to another,” Bar and Bench reported quoting the verdict.
"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. This deceptive closure undermines public trust and falsely reassures society, while in reality, the true threat remains at large," the bench said.
A special court in Maharashtra in 2015 convicted 12 accused in the case and five to death. A sepcial bench of High Court reviewing the death sentence overturned the judgment and acquitted the accused. The judgment came 19 years after the terror attack that shook Mumbai's Western Railway network. Over 180 people lost their lives in the attack, and close to 900 suffered injuries. Seven bombs exploded in suburban trains on the Western Railway line in 2006.
India