7/11 train blasts: ‘Hard to believe’ they committed the crime, says Bombay High Court, acquits all 12 accused

Mumbai: Nineteen years after various suppose blasts right here killed extra than 180 persons, the Bombay Excessive Court docket on Monday acquitted all of the 12 accused, asserting the prosecution utterly failed to point out the case and it used to be “anxious to to find they committed the crime”.

The judgement comes as a predominant embarrassment to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) which performed the probe into the case. A assorted bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak stated the prosecution has failed to even follow it fable the style of bombs frail within the crime and that the proof relied on by it used to be now not conclusive to convict the accused persons.

The look statements and alleged recoveries made of the accused haven't any evidentiary value, the HC stated while quashing the conviction of the 12 persons, of whom 5 had been sentenced to death and 7 to life imprisonment by a assorted court docket.

Seven blasts ripped through Mumbai native trains at varied areas on the western line on July 11, 2006, killing extra than 180 persons and injuring several others.

“The prosecution has utterly failed to point out the case against the accused. It's some distance anxious to to find that the accused committed the crime. Hence their conviction is quashed and space aside,” the HC stated. The bench refused to substantiate the death penalty imposed on 5 of the convicts and the life imprisonment on the final seven by a assorted court docket in 2015, and acquitted them.

The HC stated the accused will be launched from prison forthwith if now not wished in another case. The prosecution’s proof, look statements and alleged recoveries made of the accused persons haven't any evidentiary value and hence can now not be held as conclusive for conviction, it stated.

The bench in its judgment also drew an unfavorable inference on the prosecution for failing to study predominant witnesses within the case and likewise for unhappy and sinful sealing and upkeep of the recovered items – explosives and circuit containers allegedly frail to assemble the bombs.

“The prosecution has failed to even follow it fable the style of bombs frail within the alleged crime. Hence, the proof of recovery is now not ample to point out the offence against the accused,” it stated.

The HC also discarded the alleged confessional statements of a couple of of the accused within the case and stated they appear to were taken after torture used to be inflicted upon them.

“The confessional statements are found to be incomplete and now not honest as some parts are a reproduction-paste of every other. The accused persons have proved their case that torture used to be inflicted on the time,” the bench stated. The court docket also discarded the take a look at identification parade of the accused, noting the police fervent who performed it had no authority to entire so.

The HC also refused to accept the proof given by witnesses, that included taxi drivers who drove the accused to Churchgate railway insist, folk that saw the accused plant a bomb, folk that were look to bombs being assembled and folk that were look to the alleged conspiracy.

“The look statements should now not credible or reliable and conclusive to convict the accused. The proof is now not protected to rely on and the defence has succeeded in shattering the same,” it stated.

The HC stated witnesses identified the accused sooner than the police throughout the identification parade four months after the incident and then in court docket four years later.

“These witnesses failed to have ample opportunity to have seen the accused on the day of the incident to name them precisely later. We terminate now not procure the kind of causes to trigger their memory and recollect the faces,” it stated.

A assorted court docket in 2015 convicted 12 persons within the case, of whom 5 were sentenced to death and the final seven got life imprisonment. One of many convicts died pending listening to of the enchantment.

After the HC pronounced its judgment on Monday, the convicts, who were produced sooner than the court docket through video convention from varied jails all over Maharashtra, thanked their lawyers.

The death row convicts were Kamal Ansari (now lifeless), Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui, Naveed Hussain Khan and Asif Khan.

The actual court docket had found them responsible of planting bombs and various different other costs.

It had awarded life imprisonment to Tanveer Ahmed Mohammed Ibrahim Ansari, Mohammed Majid Mohammed Shafi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali Alam Shaikh, Mohammed Sajid Margub Ansari, Muzammil Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Suhail Mehmood Shaikh and Zameer Ahmed Latiur Rehman Shaikh.

One of many accused, Wahid Shaikh, used to be acquitted by the trial court docket in 2015.

(With PTI Inputs)