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.