New Delhi [India], July 22 : The Maharashtra government has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging yesterday's Bombay High Court's decision to acquit twelve persons who were accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts.
The plea was mentioned on Tuesday before a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai by Solicitor General of India (SGI) Tushar Mehta, who requested that the plea be taken up urgently by the top court. The Court listed the matter for hearing on Thursday, July 24.
The High Court had on Monday acquitted the twelve accused persons by noting that the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) failed to prove the offences beyond a reasonable doubt.
In doing so, the High Court set aside a September 2015 judgment of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) court that had imposed the death penalty on 5 of the 12 accused persons and had sentenced the remaining 7 to life.
Following the Bombay High Courts' decision, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis expressed shock and said that the Maharashtra government will challenge it in the Supreme Court. The case is listed for hearing before the CJI's bench on Thursday.
On the evening of July 11, 2006, bomb blasts took place at seven different places in the Mumbai local trains within just 11 minutes. In this incident, 189 people died, while more than 827 passengers were injured.
The bombs were placed in first-class compartments of trains from Churchgate. They exploded near the stations of Matunga Road, Mahim Junction, Bandra, Khar, Jogeshwari, Bhayandar, and Borivali. A trial court in 2015 convicted 12 people in the blasts' case.