SC stays Bombay HC judgment in 7/11 blasts case

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Bombay High Court judgment in the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts case to the limited extent that it will not be treated as a precedent in other cases being prosecuted under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

However, the court refused to halt the release of the eleven accused acquitted by the high court.

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A bench comprising Justice M M Sundresh, and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh made it clear that since the respondents had already been released, there was no question of sending them back to prison.

“All respondents released and thus no question to bring them back to prison. However, on the question of law, we will say that the impugned judgment is not to be treated as precedent in any other cases. Therefore, to that extent, let there be a stay on the impugned judgment,” the bench said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State of Maharashtra, sought the limited stay, submitting that the high court’s findings could impact other trials being conducted under MCOCA. “So far as the stay is concerned, I am not on liberty (of the accused). There are some findings which will affect all our MCOCA trials. The judgment can be stayed and the release be not hampered,” he told the bench.

Accepting the submission, the court issued notice to the acquitted persons. “We will issue a notice. Let the parties come. We will hear them and decide,” the court said.

Nine of the acquitted individuals have already been released from prison, while two—Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh and Naveed Hussain Khan—remain incarcerated in connection with other pending cases.

One accused, Kamal Ansari, died in 2021 due to COVID-19 while lodged in Nagpur Central Jail.

The case pertains to the July 11, 2006 serial bomb blasts in suburban trains on Mumbai’s Western Railway line. Seven explosions occurred during peak hours, killing 187 people and injuring over 800 others.

A lengthy investigation and trial under MCOCA led to the conviction of 12 accused – who now stand acquitted – by a Special Court in October 2015. Five of them – Kamal Ansari, Mohammad Faisal Shaikh, Ehtesham Siddiqui, Naveed Khan, and Asif Khan – were awarded death penalty while seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The high court, in its July 21, 2025 judgment, acquitted all eleven surviving convicts and delivered a scathing indictment of the investigation by the Mumbai Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the prosecution.

The Division Bench of Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Shyam Chandak noted that the prosecution had “utterly failed” to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. It observed that the trial gave the public a “misleading sense of resolution,” while the real perpetrators remain unpunished.

“Punishing the actual perpetrator of a crime is a concrete and essential step toward curbing criminal activities, upholding the rule of law, and ensuring the safety and security of citizens. But creating a false appearance of having solved a case by presenting that the accused have been brought to justice gives a misleading sense of resolution. This deceptive closure undermines public trust and falsely reassures society, while in reality, the true threat remains at large,” the high court said.

The court found the testimony of prosecution witnesses unreliable, pointing out that it was implausible for taxi drivers or train passengers to identify the accused after more than 100 days. It also held that the alleged recovery of bombs, guns, and maps was of no consequence since the prosecution failed to establish the type of explosive device used in the blasts.