Bombay High Court acquits all 12 accused in 2006 Mumbai train blasts case

New Delhi, Jul 21: Nearly a decade after a special court convicted twelve men in connection with the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all the accused, observing that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, Bar and Bench reported. A special division bench comprising Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak delivered the verdict, overturning the 2015 convictions under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Five of the accused had been sentenced to death and seven to life imprisonment by the trial court, Bar & Bench reported.

The High Court found the prosecution’s case riddled with inconsistencies. It noted that the testimonies of nearly all key witnesses were unreliable, including those of taxi drivers and passengers who claimed to identify the accused months after the incident.

The judges said there was no reason to believe these witnesses could accurately recall faces after such a long gap. The bench also dismissed the significance of the recovery of items such as bombs, weapons, and maps, stating that the prosecution failed to establish a link between the recovered material and the actual blasts. Moreover, investigators were unable to conclusively identify the type of explosives used in the attack.

One of the accused, Kamal Ansari, died in 2021 due to COVID-19 while in custody at Nagpur Central Jail. The remaining accused, including those sentenced to life, had all challenged their convictions before the High Court. The serial bombings, which occurred on July 11, 2006, targeted local trains on Mumbai’s Western Railway line and killed 189 people while injuring over 800. The coordinated explosions during peak hours were among the deadliest terror attacks in India’s history.

After a protracted trial, the special court in 2015 found twelve men guilty. Five of them, namely, Kamal Ansari, Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui, Naveed Hussain Khan, and Asif Khan, were convicted of planting the bombs and sentenced to death.

The remaining seven, 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, reports Bar & Bench.  The State had filed an appeal in the High Court seeking confirmation of the death sentences, while the convicts challenged their convictions. Hearings remained stalled for years until July 2024, when a special bench was constituted to hear the matter on a day-to-day basis. Senior advocates S Muralidhar, Yug Mohit Chaudhry, Nitya Ramakrishnan, and S Nagamuthu represented the accused, arguing that the convictions were based on weak evidence and procedural lapses. Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakare, representing the State, defended the trial court verdict and argued that the case fell under the “rarest of rare” category, warranting the death penalty. With Monday’s judgment, all living accused have been acquitted, bringing a dramatic end to one of India’s most high-profile terror trials.