In a landmark judgment, the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 individuals convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, including five who were on death row.
The division bench comprising Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Shyam C. Chandak ruled that the prosecution failed to prove the charges, calling the evidence “hard to believe.”
The verdict comes 19 years after the deadly attacks that shook Mumbai’s Western Railway line on July 11, 2006, when seven bomb explosions ripped through first-class compartments of suburban trains between Matunga and Mira Road, killing over 180 people and injuring more than 820 others.
According to investigators, the bombs were timed to explode between 6:23 PM and 6:28 PM, targeting peak-hour trains with the intent to cause maximum devastation and chaos. The blasts also injured passengers on platforms and in passing trains at stations like Mahim and Borivali.
In 2015, a special MCOCA court had sentenced five men to death and seven others to life imprisonment. One accused, Abdul Wahid Shaikh, had been acquitted at the time.
Today’s acquittal nullifies the earlier verdict, with the court stating:
“The prosecution has utterly failed to prove the case against the accused. It is hard to believe that the accused committed the crime.”
The ruling is expected to reignite debate over the case’s handling, the reliability of evidence presented, and the prolonged delays in the judicial process.
