Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the verdict of the Bombay High Court acquitting all the 12 accused in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case of 2006, while hearing a plea by the Maharashtra government.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and NK Singh, while issuing notices to the accused, clarified that they need not surrender.
About The Stay
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing the state, told the bench they were seeking a stay on the high court order, and not asking to bring the accused back to jail. “There are certain findings by the high court which may affect our other ongoing MCOCA trials,” Mehta said, adding that the same can be recorded by the apex court.
The clarification was sought after Justice Sundresh remarked that all the accused were released from prisons after the HC verdict.
Bench Issues Notice To The Accused
The bench issued notice to the accused and stayed the high court noting: “We have been informed that all the respondents (accused) have been released and there is no question of bringing them back to the prison.”
Mehta also urged that the court specify that the high court judgment may not be treated as a precedent in other cases.
“However, taking note of the submission made by the SG on the question of law, we are inclined to hold that the impugned judgment shall not be treated as a precedent. To that extent, there is a stay of the impugned judgment,” the bench added.
The bench queried on how that state plans to bring back the accused who are Pakistani nationals. To this, additional solicitor general for the state Raja Thakare said that those accused are still wanted in the case.
Special Mehta has mentioned the appeal for hearing citing “urgency” in the matter.
On July 11, 2006, RDX blasts at seven locations on the suburban rail network of Mumbai in a span of 11 minutes had claimed 189 lives and injured 827 commuters.
The special MCOCA court, in June 2015, convicted 12 persons and acquitted one. Of the 12, five alleged bomb planters — Mohammad Faisal Shaikh, Ehtesham Siddiqui, Naveed Hussain Khan, Asif Khan and Kamal Ahamed Ansari, who died due to Covid in 2022 — were sentenced to death
The remaining seven — Tanvir Ahmed Ansari, Mohammad Majid Shafi, Shaikh Alam Shaikh, Mohd Sajid Ansari, Muzzammil Shaikh, Soheil Mehmood Shaikh and Zamir Ahmad Shaikh — were sentenced to life in prison.
On July 21, the high court bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chankar acquitted all the accused persons from the charges of carrying out bomb blasts in Mumbai trains in 2006 observing that the prosecution “utterly failed” to prove the case and that it was ”hard to believe they committed the crime”.
