The Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 individuals previously convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, setting aside sentences that ranged from life imprisonment to the death penalty. The court’s decision, delivered 19 years after the horrific terror attack, stated that the prosecution “utterly failed” to prove its case against the accused.
The terror attack, which struck the city’s Western Railway network on July 11, 2006, resulted in over 180 fatalities and numerous injuries. A special bench comprising Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak concluded that the evidence presented by the prosecution was not conclusive enough to uphold the convictions.
The Acquitted Individuals:
The 12 individuals acquitted by the Bombay High Court include five who were on death row, convicted by the trial court for planting the bombs. They are:
- Kamal Ansari (from Bihar)
- Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh (from Mumbai)
- Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui (from Thane)
- Naveed Hussain Khan (from Secunderabad)
- Asif Khan (from Jalgaon, Maharashtra)
It is to be noted that Kamal Ansari had passed away in 2021 due to Covid-19 while in Nagpur prison.
The seven others who had received life sentences from the trial court and whose convictions have now also been set aside are:
- Tanveer Ahmed Mohammed Ibrahim Ansari
- Mohammed Majid Mohammed Shafi
- Shaikh Mohammed Ali Alam Shaikh
- Mohammed Sajid Margub Ansari
- Muzammil Ataur Rahman Shaikh
- Suhail Mehmood Shaikh
- Zameer Ahmed Latiur Rehman Shaikh
Another accused, Wahid Shaikh, had previously been acquitted by the trial court after spending nine years in jail.
The Bombay High Court has ordered the immediate release of the acquitted individuals from jail, provided they are not wanted in any other ongoing cases.