However, the apex court clarified that the stay order will not affect the accused persons’ release from jail following their acquittal by the High Court.
Digital arrest scams under SC lens: MHA forms high-level panel, seeks time to finalise action plan. (File Photo: IANS)
The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Bombay High Court judgement that acquitted 12 people convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts.
However, the apex court clarified that the stay order will not affect the accused persons’ release from jail following their acquittal by the High Court.
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The development comes after the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 convicts, including those on death row, in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts in which 187 people were killed and 820 others sustained injuries.
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In 2015, a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) had pronounced 12 of the 13 accused guilty for the bombings.
Of them, five accused — Naveed Hussain Khan, Kamal Ahmed Mohammed Vakil Ansari, Mohammed Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddique, and Asif Khan Bashir Khan aka Juned aka Abdulla — were sentenced to death.
Seven others — Mohamad Majid Mohamad Shafi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali Alam Shaikh, Mohammad Sajid Margub Ansari, Tanveer Ahmed Mohammed Ibrahim Ansari, Muzzammil Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Zameer Ahmed Latifur Rehman Shaikh, and Suhail Mehmood Shaikh — were awarded life imprisonment.
One of the accused, Abdul Wahid Din Mohammad Shaikh, was acquitted by the court.
They had challenged their conviction by the Bombay High Court, which ultimately ruled in their favour.
Pronouncing the verdict, the High Court had said that the prosecution “utterly failed” to prove the case against the accused.
“The prosecution has utterly failed to prove the case against the accused. It is hard to believe that the accused committed the crime. Hence, their conviction is quashed and set aside,” a division bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam C Chandak said while pronouncing the verdict.
“The prosecution has utterly failed to prove the case against the accused. It is hard to believe that the accused committed the crime. Hence, their conviction is quashed and set aside,” a division bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam C Chandak said while pronouncing the verdict.
On July 11, 2006, explosions rocked seven trains on the Western Line. The trains were fully crowded and were moving between Matunga and Mira Road railway stations. Blasts had also occurred simultaneously at Mahim, Bandra, Mira Road, and Borivali railway stations, leaving a total of 187 people dead and 820 injured.
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