2006 Mumbai train blasts case: Supreme Court to hear appeal challenging acquittal of 12 convicts on July 24

Solicitor General Mehta said the state had already prepared the appeal, and sought a hearing Wednesday.

CJI Gavai pointed out that eight of the convicts had already been released. “Yes, still we would like your lordships to consider it at the earliest,” said the Solicitor General.

CJI Gavai then said it will be listed for Thursday.

The convicts have already spent over 18 years in jail.

On Monday, the Bombay High Court overturned the September 2015 judgment of a special court designated under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA), which had sentenced five convicts to death and given life term to seven in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts. While the special court acquitted one person, the state government had not filed an appeal before the high court against the same. One person died while in prison.

The high court observed that the prosecution “utterly failed to establish the offences beyond a reasonable doubt against the accused on each count.”

The lawyer for the state government did not seek a stay of the judgment’s operation after it was pronounced by the bench of Justices Anil S Kilor and Shyam C Chandak on Monday morning. The bench ordered the release of all convicts in the case, given that they are not required to be detained in any other case.

Hours after the High Court acquitted the convicts, eight of them were released from different jails in the state by the evening. While two were not released due to pending cases against them, one died due to COVID-19 in 2021, and another was already out on parole