Seven blasts had ripped through Mumbai local trains at various locations on the western line on July 11, 2006, killing more than 180 persons and injuring several others
Chandrashekhar Bawankule. File Pic
Maharashtra revenue minister and senior BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the state government will assess the merits of the Bombay High Court order acquitting all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts, which killed more than 180 persons, before deciding on whether to challenge it in the Supreme Court, reported news agency PTI.
Seven blasts had ripped through Mumbai local trains at various locations on the western line on July 11, 2006, killing more than 180 persons and injuring several others.
Speaking to reporters, Bawankule said, "The Maharashtra government will assess the merits of the case before deciding to challenge the HC decision to acquit all the accused. Before that, we will discuss aspects like the merits of the judgement and reasons for the acquittal. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will also look into it. The state government will move the Supreme Court only after the assessment," reported PTI.
If the state has any additional information, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis will present it in detail, said Bawankule, who is a former president of the Maharashtra unit of Bharatiya Janata Party.
A special court had, in 2015, convicted 12 persons in the case, of whom five were sentenced to death and the remaining seven were given life imprisonment. One of the convicts died pending the hearing of the appeal.
Nineteen years after multiple train blasts here killed more than 180 persons, the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 accused, saying the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case and it was "hard to believe they committed the crime".
The judgement comes as a major embarrassment to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which conducted the probe into the case.
A special bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak said the prosecution has failed to even bring on record the type of bombs used in the crime and that the evidence relied on by it was not conclusive to convict the accused persons.
The witness statements and alleged recoveries made from the accused have no evidentiary value, the HC said while quashing the conviction of the 12 persons, of whom five had been sentenced to death and seven to life imprisonment by a special court.
"The prosecution has utterly failed to prove the case against the accused. It is hard to believe that the accused committed the crime. Hence, their conviction is quashed and set aside," the HC said, reported PTI.
The bench refused to confirm the death penalty imposed on five of the convicts and the life imprisonment on the remaining seven by a special court in 2015, and acquitted them.
(With inputs from PTI)
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