7/11 local train blasts case accused are innocent, languishing in jail for 18 years: Bombay High Court

Senior counsel urges Bombay High Court to acquit innocent convicts in 2006 Mumbai train blasts case after 18 years.

The accused persons in the July 11, 2006, local train blasts case have been languishing in jail for the past 18 years despite being innocent, a senior counsel submitted to the Bombay High Court (HC) on Monday (January 13, 2025).

The senior counsel urged the high court to acquit the convicts and set aside their convictions.

Arguing before a special bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak, senior advocate S. Muralidhar, representing two of the convicts sentenced to life imprisonment, alleged a “pattern” wherein investigating agencies show “communal bias” while probing terror-related cases.

The bench has been hearing appeals pertaining to the blasts case for the past five months and conducting day-to-day hearings.

Seven blasts ripped through Mumbai local trains at various locations on the western line, killing over 180 persons and injuring several others on July 11, 2006.

In September 2015, the trial court convicted 12 accused, awarding capital punishment to five of them and life imprisonment to seven others.

The Maharashtra government subsequently filed an appeal in the high court seeking confirmation of the death penalty, a mandatory legal requirement.