Supreme Court Stays High Court Order on Mumbai Train Blast, Release of 12 Convicts Postponed

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Supreme Court on Thursday gave a major verdict in the 2006 Mumbai serial train blast case and stayed the Bombay High Court's order to acquit all 12 convicts. The apex court imposed this interim stay while hearing a petition filed by the Maharashtra government and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) challenging the High Court's decision. After this decision, the release of the convicts from jail has now been postponed.

On July 11, 2006, 187 people were killed and more than 800 were injured in seven serial bomb blasts in Mumbai local trains. After a long trial in this case, in 2015, a special MCOCA court convicted 12 people, of which 5 were sentenced to death and 7 were sentenced to life imprisonment.

But this week on July 21, the Bombay High Court acquitted all 12 convicts citing lack of evidence. The High Court had said that the prosecution had completely failed to prove the case against the accused.

The Maharashtra government had approached the Supreme Court against this decision of the Bombay High Court. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had sought an urgent hearing on the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, which was accepted by the court and the matter was heard on Thursday.

In its petition, the government said the high court had rejected the recovery of RDX from one of the accused on "highly technical grounds". It argued that the seized explosives were not sealed for safety reasons as RDX is highly flammable. The government also said that the case was cleared by senior officials following due procedure, which the high court ignored.

After hearing these arguments, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court order and issued notice on the appeal filed against the acquittal of all the accused.