The Maharashtra government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court’s recent acquittal of all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts case, which claimed over 180 lives and injured hundreds.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the plea on July 24, just days after the High Court delivered a strongly worded verdict overturning the 2015 special court ruling. That earlier judgment had sentenced five men to death and seven to life imprisonment.
In its verdict on Monday, the High Court stated that the prosecution “utterly failed” to establish guilt, adding it was “hard to believe the accused committed the crime.” The acquittals have sparked intense debate, given the gravity of the attack and the years-long trial.
The 7/11 blasts, among the deadliest in India’s history, involved a series of coordinated explosions on Mumbai’s suburban train network during the evening rush hour on July 11, 2006.