Bombay HC acquits all 12 accused in 2006 Mumbai Train Blast case after 19 years

In a landmark ruling, the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 individuals who had been convicted in connection with the 2006 Mumbai suburban train bombings, which left 189 people dead and more than 800 injured. The judgment comes nearly two decades after one of India’s most horrific terrorist attacks and reverses the 2015 verdict of a special MCOCA court that had sentenced five men to death and the remaining to life imprisonment.

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The division bench, comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri Godse, delivered a scathing critique of the investigation and prosecution, citing serious shortcomings in evidence collection and witness reliability. The court questioned the integrity of test identification parades, highlighting that several witnesses identified the accused only after several years of silence, a delay the court found highly suspicious. In one case, a key witness was found to have testified in multiple unrelated crime cases, raising concerns over the authenticity of his claims.

Further, the court noted that some witnesses were never examined during the trial, and the seizure of alleged explosive material could not be clearly traced to the forensic lab without gaps. The judges also emphasized procedural lapses and signs of coercion, suggesting that certain confessions may have been extracted under duress.

The High Court declared that the prosecution had failed to meet the legal standard of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. As a result, the earlier convictions under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) have been nullified. One of the accused, Kamal Ansari, died of COVID-19 in prison in 2021. The remaining 11, after serving 19 years, are now expected to be released.