7/11 Mumbai Train Blasts: Bombay High Court Acquits All 12 Accused

Bombay High Court has quashed and set aside the judgment of a special MCOCA court, which handed over the death sentence to 5 and life term to 7 accused booked for conspiring and executing the bombs in Mumbai's Western Railway local line. 7 bombs had ripped through the local lines in Mumbai. A total of 189 citizens lost their lives and nearly 820 innocents sustained severe injuries in these blasts which are also known as the infamous "7/11 Mumbai Blasts."A special bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak, which heard the appeals of the State and the convicts against the conviction, for over six months, pronounced their judgment in the court. It observed that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.A detailed copy of the judgment is yet to be made available. Notably, a special court designated to hear case under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA), had in September 2015 awarded death penalty to five of the convicts and life terms to seven others.While convicts Kamal Ansari, Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui, Naveed Hussain Khan and Asif Khan were handed over death penalty for planting the bombs, the other set of convicts - 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 granted life term. One another accused, Wahid Shaikh, was acquitted by the trial court after he spent nine years in jail.The appeals filed by the State as well as these convicts was pending disposal in the High Court from 2015 and finally in July 2024, after some of the convicts urged for a speedy disposal of the case, a special bench comprising Justices Kilor and Chandak was constituted. It would not be out of place to mention, that former Orissa High Court Chief Justice and now senior counsel Dr S Muralidhar had appeared for Muzzamil Ataur Rahman Shaikh, a resident of Bangalore and Zameer Ahmed Latifur Rehman Shaikh, a resident of Worli, Mumbai - both of whom challenged their life terms.In his detailed submissions, Muralidhar highlighted the lapses in investigation and also the trial, the lapses on part of the investigating officers in obtaining confessional statements of the accused in the case and also about the media trial and conduct of the courts in such terrorism or high profile cases.According to Muralidhar, there has been a "biased investigation" in this case."Innocent people are sent to jail and then years later when they are released from jail there is no possibility for reconstruction of their lives. From last 17 years these accused are in jail. They haven't stepped out even for a day. The majority of their prime life is gone. In such cases where there is a public outcry, the approach by police is always to first assume guilt and then go from there. Police officers take press conferences in such cases, and the way the media covers the case, it kind of decides the guilt of a person. In many such terror cases, investigating agencies have failed us miserably," Muralidhar had submitted.Contending that the 12 men are behind the bars for the last 18 years without any proper evidence, Muralidhar hadargued that so many lives have been already lost in those blasts, which ripped through Mumbai's Western Railway's Local Line, and then these "innocents were arrested.""And then after years, the accused are acquitted and then no one gets closure. We have a history of failures in probes in terror cases. But it is not too late now. The court can set it right," the senior counsel had submitted.Muralidhar, while concluding his arguments for the day, urged the judges to consider the 'stigma' factor that not only hits the accused but also his family and relatives. "It is not just the accused but even his children, parents, relatives get tainted. And once tainted, Milords, this society is too cruel to them. No one will treat them properly. Please consider this factor too," he had submitted.Also Read - Maharashtra ATS Tortured Accused, Officers Were Frustrated: Bombay High Court While Acquitting 12 Men From 7/11 Mumbai Train Blasts CaseCase Title: State of Maharashtra vs Kamal Ahmed Mohd. Vakil Ansari and Others Click Here To Read/Download Judgment

7/11 Mumbai Train Blasts: Bombay High Court Acquits All 12 Accused

Narsi Benwal

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