7/11 Mumbai Blasts Case| Maharashtra govt moves Supreme Court against acquittal of 12 convicts
High Court in the impugned judgment has said that creating a false appearance of justice by punishing the wrong person undermines public trust and leaves the real threat unchecked.;
An SLP has been filed before the Supreme Court of India challenging the Bombay High Court decision from yesterday, July 21, 2025, acquitting all 12 men convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, holding that the prosecution had "utterly failed to establish the offence beyond reasonable doubt" on each count.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the petition today before a CJI Gavai led bench saying that there was urgency in the matter.
The SG further requested for the matter to be listed tomorrow.
High Court on Monday, July 21, 2025, acquitted all 12 accused previously convicted in connection with the horrific 2006 Mumbai train bombings, also known as the 7/11 blasts.
The blasts, which tore through the Western Railway suburban network on July 11, 2006, claimed the lives of at least 180 commuters and left hundreds injured. Following a protracted trial under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), a special court convicted 12 accused in October 2015, five were sentenced to death and the remaining seven to life imprisonment. The State had since appealed for confirmation of the death penalties, while the convicts challenged their convictions. The case remained before the High Court for nearly a decade, finally being expedited during 2024–2025 with hearings running day‑to‑day.
A division bench of Justices Shyam C. Chandak and Anil S. Kilor set aside the trial court’s 2015 judgment, which had convicted the men under multiple provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, and explosives laws.
High Court declined to confirm the death sentences of five accused and allowed all criminal appeals, ordering their immediate release unless wanted in other cases. Court said it was “unsafe” to reach the conclusion that the appellants had committed the offences they were convicted for.
Accused Kamal Ansari (A1), Mohd. Faisal Shaikh (A3), Ehtesham Siddique (A4), Naveed Khan (A12), and Asif Khan (A13) were sentenced to death, while Tanveer Ansari (A2), Mohd. Majid (A5), Shaikh Mohd. Ali Alam Shaikh (A6), Sajid Ansari (A7), Muzzammil Shaikh (A9), Suhail Shaikh (A10), and Zameer Shaikh (A11) were sentenced to life imprisonment
Authored by Justice Kilor, the 671-page judgment started as: "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. Essentially, this is what the case at hand conveys".