Mumbai Train Blast 2006: Bombay HC acquits all 12 accused; Quashes death and life terms

The Bench directed all the 12 to execute personal bonds of Rs 25,000 each at the time of their release.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday set aside the verdict of a special court that awarded the death to five accused and life term for the seven in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, and acquitted all 12 accused in the case, reports Dynamite News correspondent.

The Bombay High Court special Bench of Justices Anil S Kilor and Shyam C Chandak delivered the verdict here on Monday. The Bench questioned the trustworthiness of some witnesses and the Test Identification Parade (TIP) of some of the accused.

The Bench directed all the 12 to execute personal bonds of Rs 25,000 each at the time of their release.

The black day of 11 July 2006 is still fresh in the memory of Mumbai, when seven serial bomb blasts in local trains shook the city. The blast is known as the 7/11 Mumbai Train Blast case. In this attack as many as 189 people were killed and over 825 were injured.

The High Court said in its verdict that the prosecution completely failed to present solid evidence against the accused.

The Bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak made it clear that the prosecution had no solid evidence.

"Whatever evidence was produced was not beyond doubt. The statements of witnesses were found to be unreliable and there was no solid basis for the identification of the accused after 100 days by taxi drivers or people present at the scene," the court observed.

Besides the recovery of evidence like bombs, guns and maps was also termed irrelevant by the court, as the prosecution could not prove the type of bombs used in the blasts.

In The High Court

The hearing of this case in the High Court started in July 2024 and lasted for about six months. After the completion of the hearing in January 2025, the court reserved the verdict.

The accused who were lodged in Yerwada, Nashik, Amravati, and Nagpur jails were produced through video conferencing. Defence lawyers argued that under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), the police recorded confessions through torture, which are not credible. Apart from this, the involvement of Indian Mujahideen (IM) was mentioned in the investigation of Mumbai Crime Branch and the confession of IM member Sadiq was also presented in the court.

Backgounder

In this attack in 2006, there were blasts in seven local trains of Mumbai within 11 minutes. In this case, a charge sheet was filed in November 2006 and in 2015 the lower court convicted 12 accused. Five were sentenced to death and seven to life imprisonment. After this, the government filed a petition in the High Court to confirm the death penalty, while the accused also appealed against their sentence.