The Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 accused and set aside the death sentence awarded to five of the accused by a special court in the 2006 Mumbai train blast case. The court refused the Maharashtra government’s plea seeking the confirmation of their sentences.
The Special bench comprising Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak overturned the September 30, 2015 judgement of the special MCOCA court stating that the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case against them. Five months ago the HC had reserved the matter for judgment.
"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 HC said.
The court ordered their release if they are not to be held in relation to some other case and directed all of them to execute personal bonds of Rs. 25,000 each. In the case, 13 people were accused under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA). One of them had died in prison during the pandemic, five were sentenced to death and the remaining seven were awarded a life term.
The Bombay High court had been hearing the case since July last year.
The Case
On July 11, 2006, a series of bombs exploded on Western suburban coaches, killing 189 commuters and injuring 824. The convicts, Kamal Ansari from Bihar, Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh from Mumbai, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui from Thane, Naveed Hussain Khan from Secunderabad and Asif Khan from Jalgaon in Maharashtra were found guilty of planting the bombs and sentenced to death by the trial court. Out of these, Ansari died in the Nagpur prison due to Covid 19 in 2021.
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 and Zameer Ahmed Latiur Rehman Shaikh were sentenced to life imprisonment.
