SC stays Bombay HC's acquittal of 2006 Mumbai train blasts accused
The top court said the high court judgement shall not be treated as a precedent. It, however, did not stay the release of the accused from the prison
The Supreme Court on Thursday (July 24) stayed the Bombay High Court verdict acquitting all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train bomb blasts case.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh issued notice to all the accused in the case and sought their response on the appeal filed by the state government.
Also Read: 2006 Mumbai train blasts case: Supreme Court to hear plea challenging acquittal
No stay on release
The top court said the high court judgement shall not be treated as a precedent and issued notice to all the accused in the case.
The court, however, did not stay the release of the accused from prison, since all them were released, following their acquittal earlier this week.
The Maharashtra government, urged the court to stay the effect of the high court verdict because the judgment contained certain observations that could cast a shadow over other (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act ) MCOCA cases currently under trial.
Also Read: 7/11 Mumbai train blasts: HC acquits all 12 accused; says prosecution 'utterly failed'
Bombay HC verdict
On Monday, a special high court bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak acquitted all the 12 accused, saying the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case and it was "hard to believe the accused committed the crime".
Of the 12, five had been sentenced to death and seven to life imprisonment by the special court. One of the death row convicts died in 2021.
189 people were killed when seven blasts ripped through Mumbai local trains at various locations on the western line on July 11, 2006.
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Setback for ATS
The high court allowed the appeals filed by the accused challenging their conviction and sentences imposed on them by a special court in 2015.
The HC verdict came as a major setback to the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) which probed the case.
The agency claimed that the accused were members of the banned outfit Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and hatched the conspiracy with Pakistani members of the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
(With inputs from agencies)