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Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudry submitted that the appeals and confirmation of the death sentences of the convicts were among the oldest pleas pending before the high court. He added that other cases involving the confirmation of death sentences had been heard, but not those of the 7/11 convicts
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday assured that it will hear the appeals and applications seeking confirmation of the death sentence of the convicts in the 7/11 Mumbai Train Blast Case.
The division bench of the high court comprising Justice Bharathi Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande was hearing an application filed by one of the convicts, Ehtesham Siddique, stating that their appeals had not been heard and that they had been behind bars since 2005.
On July 11, 2006, an initial blast occurred just after 6:20 pm in a local train travelling between Churchgate and Borivali, specifically between the Khar and Santacruz stations. Around the same time, another explosion occurred in a local train between Bandra and Khar. Following these incidents, five additional explosions were reported in Jogeshwari, Mahim, Mira Road-Bhayandar, Matunga-Mahim, and Borivali.
A sequence of explosions occurred in seven coaches of suburban trains, resulting in the tragic death of 189 commuters and causing injuries to 824 individuals. Following a trial lasting over eight years, a special court operating under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) pronounced the death penalty for five convicts (Ehtesham Sidduiqui, Asif Khan, Faisal Shaikh, Naveed Khan, and Kamal Ansari) and life imprisonment for seven others in October 2015.
The Maharashtra Government had filed an appeal before the high court seeking confirmation of the death sentence. Simultaneously, the convicts also filed an appeal challenging their conviction by the special court.
Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudry submitted that the appeals and confirmation of the death sentences of the convicts were among the oldest pleas pending before the high court. He added that other cases involving the confirmation of death sentences had been heard, but not those of the 7/11 convicts.
Chaudry further noted that the case involved 192 prosecution witnesses, 51 defence witnesses, and 190 volumes of papers.
In response to the bench’s query, both Advocate Chaudry and Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakare informed the bench that if the case were heard daily, the hearing could be completed within six months.
The high court said that it would decide on the matter within a week.
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