The Bombay High Court acquitted all the 12 accused on 21 July 2025, giving a historic verdict in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts. A special bench of Justices Anil Killor and Justice Shyam Chandak said that the prosecution failed to prove their allegations with solid and reliable evidence. The court reversed the 2015 special MCOCA court verdict, saying, “It is difficult to believe that the accused committed the crime. The prosecution failed completely, so their sentence is canceled.”
On 11 July 2006, seven coordinated blasts in the local trains of Mumbai’s Western Railway killed 189 people and more than 800 people were injured. The blasts occurred in first -class coaches within 11 minutes, in which RDX was used. In 2015, the special MCOCA court convicted 12 accused, out of which five -Kamal Ansari, Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Sheikh, Ehtesam Qutbuddin Siddiqui, Naved Hussain Khan, and Asif Khan Bashir Khan – Ko hanged and seven other -Tanveer Ahmad, Mohammad Majid, Sheikh Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Majd Jamir Ahmed – was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The High Court considered evidence of prosecution as incredible. The court found that the statements of the witnesses, such as taxi drivers and other eyewitnesses, were not reliable, as many witnesses suddenly identified the accused after four years, which was unusual. A witness also made statements in other cases like Ghatkopar Blast, which raised questions on his credibility. The court also dismissed the alleged confession statements taken under MCOCA, as they appeared to be taken after torture and many parts copied each other. The prosecution could not even prove what kind of explosives were used in the blasts, and there were flaws in recovery and protection of evidence such as bombs, weapons or circuit boxes.
The court also declared the Test Identification Parade illegal, as the police officer who held it did not have authority. After the verdict, the accused thanked their lawyers through video conferencing. Advocate Yuga Mohit Chaudhary said, “This decision is a ray of hope for the wrongly jailed people.” However, the families of the victims expressed disappointment over the decision, and the Maharashtra government is now considering appealing to the Supreme Court. This decision is a major setback for the investigating agencies and questions the credibility of evidence in terrorist cases.
