Mumbai, July 21: The Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday that the government will challenge in the Supreme Court the Bombay High Court’s decision to acquit all 12 people in the 2006 Mumbai blasts case. He said, “The decision of the Bombay High Court is very shocking.”
In fact, on July 11, 2006, several powerful blasts occurred in Mumbai local trains during the evening rush hour. 209 people were killed in seven blasts in the first class coaches at an interval of 11 minutes. More than 800 were injured in this incident.
Kamal Ansari of Bihar, Mohammed Faisal Ataur Rahman Sheikh of Mumbai, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui of Thane, Naveed Hussain Khan of Secunderabad and Asif Khan of Jalgaon, Maharashtra were found guilty of planting the bomb and were sentenced to death by the trial court.
As per the law, the decision of the trial court awarding them death penalty was required to be confirmed by the Bombay High Court before it could be implemented. In 2015, the Maharashtra government had approached the High Court for confirmation. Also, the five convicts had filed appeals challenging the decision of the special court. One of the accused died in 2021 due to Covid-19.
In July 2024, the High Court constituted a special bench headed by Justice Kilor to hear the case, which held a regular hearing of the case. Five months ago, the High Court had completed the hearing of the case and reserved its verdict.
On Monday morning, the High Court pronounced the decision of acquitting all the twelve accused due to lack of evidence. After this decision, BJP state vice-president Kirit Somaiya said that the decision is shocking, but this decision will be challenged in the Supreme Court.
BJP leader and famous lawyer Ujjwal Nikam said that in this very case, the special court had sentenced the accused by accepting the evidence, but the same evidence has not been accepted by the High Court.
Ujjwal Nikam said that he has not read the decision of the High Court, he will be able to react in this context only after reading the decision. Nikam said that the decision of the High Court will be challenged in the Supreme Court.