Supreme Court stays Bombay HC verdict acquitting 12 in 2006 Mumbai train blasts
The two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice M M Sundresh and also comprising Justice N Kotiswar Singh, also issued notices to all the 12 accused, after hearing the criminal appeals filed by the State of Maharashtra govt challenging the Bombay HC judgment.
During a brief hearing on Thursday, the Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State of Maharashtra, requested the top court for a stay of the judgment, citing that some of the observations made by the HC in the verdict can impact other pending trials under the MCOCAMehta also clarified that he was not seeking an order from the apex court to direct the accused persons, who have been released from prison following the judgment, to surrender.
After hearing the submissions from Mehta, the apex court stayed the HC verdict.
The court noted that we have been informed that all the respondents have been released and there is no question of bringing them back to the prison. “However, taking note of the submission made by the SG on the question of law, we are inclined to hold that the impugned judgment shall not be treated as a precedent.The High Court on July 21, acquitted all 12 accused in the 2006 train blast case as it set aside the spe-cial MCOCA court’s order handing death sentence to five and life term to seven accused, saying it was “hard to believe” they committed the crime.
Nineteen years ago, on July 11, 2006, seven bombs ripped through Mumbai’s local trains killing 189 and maiming 820 travellers. The bombs were timed to go off during the evening rush to inflict maxi-mum pain.In the order, a bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak cited sev-eral reasons for overturning the 2015 verdict of the spe-cial court. The bench noted that the evidence was not properly collected and pre-sented. The first arrest was made on July 20, 2006 fol-lowed by continuous arrests. However, the test identification parade was not done for four months. Besides, some witnesses were also the wit-nesses in the 2002 Ghatkopar bomb blast case and their testimonies were shattered in cross examinations.
The appellants shall be released from jail if they are not required to be detained in any other case by giving a bond of Rs 25,000 each, the HC had said.