7/11 Mumbai Train Blasts| Supreme Court stays judgment acquitting 12 convicts
The Supreme Court of India today stayed the Bombay High Court's decision from July 21, 2025, acquitting all 12 men convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, which held that the prosecution had "utterly failed to establish the offence beyond reasonable doubt" on each count.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh has clarified that the stay is on the observations made in the judgment and that the same would not be treated as a precedent.
"We will issue notice..and we will stay the judgment, it cannot be read as a precedent..", the court said after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the state was seeking a stay of the order, not to bring the convicts back to jail but on grounds of certain findings of the High Court which would affect all of the MCOCA trials.
Court further expressed concerns over some of the accused being Pakistani nationals and of them absconding post their release from jail.
On 22nd July the SG had mentioned before a CJI Gavai led bench the SLP filed before the Supreme Court of India challenging the high court's decision.
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".
Case Title: THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA vs. MOHD FAISAL ATAUR RAHMAN SHAIKH AND ORS
Hearing Date: July 24, 2025
Bench: Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh