Maha CM Fadnavis To Move Supreme Court After 12 Convicted In 2006 Mumbai Train Blasts Acquitted By Bombay HC
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday expressed “shock” over the Bombay High Court’s decision to acquit all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai serial train bombings case, stating that the state government will challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.
“The verdict of the Bombay High Court is very shocking and we will challenge it in the Supreme Court,” Fadnavis told reporters shortly after the High Court delivered its ruling.
Earlier in the day, a special bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak of the Bombay High Court acquitted all 12 individuals, including five who were sentenced to death in 2015, after observing that “the prosecution has utterly failed in establishing the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The acquittals came nearly 18 years after the devastating July 11, 2006, serial blasts that ripped through Mumbai’s suburban train network during peak evening hours. Seven coordinated blasts in first-class compartments within an 11-minute span killed 189 people and injured over 800, marking one of the deadliest attacks on India’s financial capital.
The accused were previously convicted by a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in 2015, with five sentenced to death and seven others to life imprisonment for allegedly planting bombs in the trains. The prosecution had argued that the accused were linked to the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
Following the trial court’s verdict, the Maharashtra government had moved the High Court seeking confirmation of the death sentences, as required by law. Simultaneously, the convicts filed appeals challenging the special court’s judgment.
One of the convicts died in 2021 due to COVID-19 while the appeal was pending. In July 2024, the High Court constituted a special bench led by Justice Kilor, which conducted regular hearings for six months and reserved its judgment five months ago.
Reactions to the acquittals have been swift on social media, with some calling for justice for the victims while others questioned the investigation’s shortcomings that led to the collapse of the case after nearly two decades.
The 2006 blasts had left a deep scar on Mumbai, with packed compartments on Western Railway’s suburban network targeted during the evening rush. The attacks prompted a massive nationwide security response and led to changes in anti-terror procedures across India.
