Nineteen years after the 2006 Mumbai train blasts claimed 189 lives and left over 800 people injured, the Bombay High Court today acquitted all 12 people convicted by a lower court in the serial bombing case. In 2015, a trial court had convicted these 12 accused, sentencing five of them to death and the others to life imprisonment.
Setting aside the trial court order, the high court bench of Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Shyam Chandak said the prosecution had “utterly failed” to prove the case against the accused.
“The prosecution has utterly failed to prove the case against the accused. It is hard to believe that the accused committed the crime. Hence, their conviction is quashed and set aside,” the bench said. The court said the accused shall be released from jail if they are not wanted in any other case.
On July 11, 2006, seven bomb blasts had ripped through separate Mumbai local trains within 11 minutes. Rigged pressure cookers were used for the bombings to amplify the damage caused. The first occurred at 6.24 pm — rush hour due to people returning from work — and the last at 6.35 pm.
