The Bombay High Court’s acquittal of all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts that claimed 189 lives has left the authorities and the victims’ families shocked, heartbroken and outraged, with one of the injured in the deadly attack sarcastically saying ‘no one did it’.
All 12 accused were convicted by a lower court in the bombing case, known as 7/11, when on July 11, 2006, seven RDX bombs went off in a span of just 11 minutes in the first-class coaches of Mumbai’s suburban trains claiming 189 lives. According to other estimates, the death toll was more than 200.
The High Court verdict was delivered by a bench comprising Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Shyam Chandak who held that the prosecution has utterly failed to prove the case against the accused.
Anger, despair
Chartered Accountant Chirag Chauhan, who had suffered a spinal injury which left his legs and lower body paralysed, expressed his dismay over the verdict and wrote on X: “No one killed 200 people & injured 700 in a series of Seven Bomb blasts in local trains in Mumbai on 11 July 2006.”
Saguna, mother of Harshal Bhalerao, who died in the attack, told The Times of India: “No verdict will bring my son back. But the guilty must be punished.”
His father Yashwant told the newspaper that the family members of the victims of the blasts will not like the judgment.
“He was our only boy, now our daughter takes care of us,” he said.
Artist Mahendra Pitale, who lost his arm in the attack, told TOI: “The order is a massive shock.”
Pitale, who was given a job by the Indian Railways, expressed his anger and frustration when he said: “Is it going to take law enforcement agencies another 19 years to find the real perpetrators?”
Vishakha Seksaria, sister of Vrindesh, who was killed, said, “I am unable to digest this news.”
Garden landscaper Harish Pawar, who was injured in the 2006 attack, told the newspaper: “Why was the evidence that was deemed acceptable by the lower courts for conviction, entirely negated by HC?”
Accused’s family hails verdict
While the victims and their families voiced their anger and shock over the verdict, the family members of those who were acquitted in the case expressed their relief and shared the hardships they faced due to the imprisonment of their loved ones.
Maqsood said his brother Dr Tanveer Ansari was serving life imprisonment after the Maharashtra Anti Terorrist Squad (ATS) had arrested him in 2006.
Maqsood said Ansari’s daughter was only six months old when his father was put behind bars.
A Unani medical practitioner, Ansari was working in the hospital when he was arrested.
ATS reportedly claimed he surveyed the trains for the blast.
“He was at a clinic and was picked up by the police without any proof. We were informed two days later, and my father went to meet him and found that he had been brutally assaulted and tortured,” Maqsood told The Indian Express.
“My father was deeply affected by it. My mother passed away two years later and Tanveer was permitted to visit only for half an hour. We continued to fight for justice, knowing that he and others booked in the case were innocent,” he said.
He said his father died in 2018, awaiting his son’s return.
“His daughter has grown up without her father,” Maqsood said.
Wahid Shaikh, who was acquitted by the trial court in 2015, told The Indian Express: “From the first day, we have been saying that the whole case is bogus and that wrong persons were arrested and tortured into giving false confessions. Even after I was acquitted, the fight continued to ensure that the wrongly arrested were released.”
“We have been saying that justice will not be done to the victims till the correct perpetrators are arrested,” he said.
Bombay High Court’s order
The Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts that left 189 people dead.
A trial court had sentenced five of the 12 accused to death in 2015, while the rest were handed life imprisonment.
The High Court order was given by a bench comprising Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Shyam Chandak.
The verdict comes 19 years after the serial blasts that took place in crowded suburban trains, Mumbai’s lifeline, in 2006 during the evening peak hours.
Verdict will be challenged: Maharashtra CM Fadnavis
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed his ‘shock’ over the verdict and said the government would challenge the case in the Supreme Court.
“The verdict of the Bombay High Court is very shocking,” Fadnavis told the media.
“We are going to challenge it in the Supreme Court”, he said.
Former Mumbai top cop Anami Narayan Roy expressed ‘disappointment’ over the ruling.
“We had done highly professional work and there was very little scope for finding fault with our investigation,” Roy told The Times of India.
The deadly 7/11
Seven RDX bombs went off in a span of just 11 minutes in the first-class coaches of Mumbai’s suburban trains on July 11, 2006, killing 189 people and injuring 800.
The bombs were kept in pressure cookers.
The blasts occurred between Khar Road-Santacruz, Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Mira Road- Bhayander, Matunga- Mahim Junction and Borivali.
