Mumbai Train Blasts 2006: Bombay HC acquits all 12 accused; says prosecution utterly failed to prove case against them | Mumbai News

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MUMBAI: The Bombay excessive courtroom on Monday refused to verify the dying sentence for 5 convicted within the 2006 July 11 synchronised Mumbai prepare blasts and acquitted all 12 accused who had been convicted in September 2015 by a particular MCOCA trial courtroom. The HC put aside the September 30, 2015 judgment of the particular MCOCA courtroom, discovering no proof to uphold the responsible verdict. The HC held that the prosecution failed to set up its case against all the accused. The prosecution failed to say what sort of explosive was used, its confession statements failed the take a look at of validity, accepted defence arguments of torture earlier than alleged confessions and the HC additionally discarded the identification parade, for need of correct authority, in addition to deposition of witnesses who recognized the accused throughout trial as missing credibility.

The trial courtroom had sentenced seven to life. On Jan 31 this 12 months, after nearly seven months of listening to appeals and affirmation references, a particular HC bench of Justices Anil Kilor and S.M. Chandak had reserved judgment on the destiny of 5 people sentenced to dying by a particular trial courtroom in 2015 for the synchronised prepare bombings of July 11, 2006, in Mumbai, together with seven different convicts.

In prison regulation, a dying sentence given by a trial courtroom wants to be first confirmed by the upper courtroom to be an executable sentence. The trial courtroom verdict, whereas granting the dying penalty to 5 of the convicts, acknowledged, “It was mindless, cold-blooded, and wanton killings of innocent, defenceless, and unsuspecting persons. The SPP has rightly described the accused as ‘Merchants of death.'” Raja Thakare, the Special Public Prosecutor, had argued that the case stands robust, the trial courtroom verdict can’t be dislodged, and dying sentences ought to be confirmed. The prosecution acknowledged that bombs had been planted in pairs of 1 native man and one Pakistani accused. The conviction relied totally on the confessions of the accused to nail them. The defence counsel earlier than the High Court argued at size, stating the info and confessions of 11—recorded solely after the stringent MCOCA Act was invoked to allow the usage of such confessions—had been “inadmissible evidence,” being “products of torture, fabrication, violation of due process, and falsehood.” Chaudhri argued that “within a few days of the recording of their confessions, all the accused complained of coercion and torture.“ The defence had argued that confessions had been “not genuine’’ and their contention was backed by the fact that accused Mohd Faisal Shaikh, the alleged mastermind of the offence, and four planters given the capital punishment by the trial court were silent on who planted the bomb in the Mahim and Bandra blasts. The HC found merit in the defence contentions. The case is better known as the 7/11 train blasts case. The RDX explosives killed 189 and injured 827 others, according to the trial court verdict. Bombs planted on trains exploded during the peak evening office rush hour at seven locations between Khar Road and Santacruz, Bandra and Khar Road, Jogeshwari and Mahim Junction, Mira Road and Bhayander, Matunga and Mahim Junction, and Borivli. The convicts joined via videoconferencing from prisons across the state, including Pune’s Yerwada and prisons in Nashik, Amravati, and Nagpur. One of them, Naved Hussain Khan, sentenced to death by the special trial court for being a bomb planter, had during the HC hearings spoken for himself from the Nagpur Central Prison when the bench gave them an opportunity. He said that he was “not involved in this case” and “did not even know these other people except” one prior to the arrests. He said he suffered for 19 years needlessly and, while people lost their lives, innocents can’t be hanged either. The special MCOCA trial court Judge Y.D. Shinde had found all 11 confession statements voluntary and none exculpatory. Thakare, who conducted the trial as SPP and had sought the noose for eight of the 12 finally convicted, also argued the confirmation case for the state before the HC. Assisted by advocate Siddharth Jagushte, Thakare had argued that the prosecution evidence presented before the court was cogent then and now. For the 12 men, the defence team included advocate Yug Chaudhri, Payoshi Roy, and senior advocates S. Nagamuthu, Nitya Ramakrishnan, S. Muralidharan, apart from advocates Gaurav Bhawnani, Hetali Sheth, Khan Ishrat, and Aditya Mehta. The lawyers representing the convicts argued that their “extra-judicial confessional statements” obtained by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) by way of “torture” had been inadmissible underneath the regulation. They additionally argued that the accused had been falsely implicated, harmless and had been languishing in jail for 18 years with out substantial proof, and their prime years had been gone in incarceration. The appellants mentioned that the trial courtroom erred in convicting them and subsequently the mentioned order be put aside. The convicts Kamal Ansari from Bihar, Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh from Mumbai, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui from Thane, Naveed Hussain Khan from Secunderabad, and Asif Khan from Jalgaon in Maharashtra had been discovered responsible of planting the bombs and sentenced to dying by the trial courtroom. Ansari, one of many convicts on dying row, died due to Covid-19 in Nagpur jail in 2021. Those awarded life time period had been Tanveer Ahmed Mohammed Ibrahim Ansari, Mohammed Majid Mohammed Shafi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali Alam Shaikh, Mohammed Sajid Margub Ansari, Muzammil Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Suhail Mehmood Shaikh, and Zameer Ahmed Latiur Rehman Shaikh. One of the accused, Wahid Shaikh, was acquitted by the trial courtroom after 9 years in jail. The Maharashtra authorities in 2015 approached the HC with pleas searching for affirmation of the dying penalty granted to 5 convicts. On the opposite hand, the convicts filed appeals difficult the particular courtroom order. In July 2024, the HC had constituted the particular bench within the matter after convicts sought an expedited listening to. After the pronouncement, Yug Chaudhry, Nitya Ramakrishnan, attorneys for the accused—This judgment will go a good distance in restoring the religion of individuals within the judiciary, because it exhibits that 11 individuals might be held to be harmless and acquitted in face of strongest opposition by the prosecution. On videoconference, Sr advocates S. Nagamuthu, S. Muralidhar for the accused: We categorical our gratitude for affected person listening to. Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakare: We are grateful for ample alternative. We have learnt quite a bit. This judgment will probably be landmark and a guiding torch for all.