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Time of India
19 hours ago
- Time of India
2006 Mumbai train blasts: Torture of accused barbaric, inhuman, says HC
In this July 11, 2006 file photo, a train coach is damaged by a bomb blast at Matunga railway station in Mumbai. (PTI) MUMBAI: Bombay HC termed the 'torture' of accused number 1 in the train blasts case as 'barbaric and inhuman' and, saying that complaints of many other accused also raised doubts that torture was inflicted, discarded the confessions obtained by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) as 'unreliable and inadmissible. ' The HC in its judgment elaborated on the complaints of torture by police to extract confessional statements from the accused. The alleged methods included splitting legs 180 degrees wide, tying individuals to a chair all night, denying food from morning to evening, and putting cockroaches in vests and rats in underwear amid a lot of beating. Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak, while acquitting all the dozen accused, invoked two-century-old history to invalidate confessions eked from threats, saying, 'We can get the evidence of police atrocities from 1817… the passing of Bengal Police Regulation, 1817, is the example. This shows that for more than two centuries, the safeguards and checks are tried to be placed on malpractices of police officers. ' Six minutes of terror The defence argued that though the accused were in custody for over 60 days, police complained of non-cooperation. However, once MCOCA was invoked on Sept 24, 2006, 11 confessions poured in, showing they 'are not voluntary but the result of continuous torture in police custody.' On Oct 9, 2006, when produced in court, all retracted the confessions and detailed the torture inflicted by ATS, defence counsel Yug Chaudhri argued. They also stepped in as defence witnesses, and their evidence merits acceptance, the HC held, since the cross-examination failed to dislodge their claim, which was 'corroborated by medical and other evidence' to a 'very substantial degree.' The HC said, 'Not allowing a person to sleep, making him stand the whole night with his arms tied above his head, or stretching his legs to 180 degrees, as has been repeatedly testified to by the accused, will not leave visible scars on the body, no matter how much this may bruise the mind or injure the psyche.' While accused number 1, Kamal Ansari, who died in 2021 in prison, did not testify as a witness, HC noted his complaint in detail, alleging a DCP had said, 'I won't kill you, I have a pen, with this pen, I will make your life hell, your entire family will come on the road.' The high court said such detailed third-degree methods can't be an 'afterthought' as argued by the prosecution. Medical and ocular evidence 'not only corroborates the complaint of A.1 of torture and its truthfulness but also the fact that police warned him not to disclose about the torture meted out to him by them to the doctor.' 'The torture was barbaric and inhuman, and it exposes the frustration the officers might have had at the relevant time for obvious reasons,' said the HC, holding his confession can't form the basis of convictions. The HC also came to a similar conclusion of torture being inflicted on many other accused. For instance, in the case of accused number 5, the HC said 'evidence sufficiently hints at the possibility of torture being inflicted… to extort his confession.' The HC also said, 'Detailed narration of torture with all the specific details creates doubt about torture to extort confession.' The judgment devoted 350-odd pages to confessions and about 100 pages to complaints of torture. The HC also said the prior approval to invoke MCOCA by an additional police commissioner was vitiated on grounds of complete non-application of mind by the then additional police commissioner. 'The procedure(s) of sanction provided in the legislation are meant to be followed strictly, to the letter, more so to the spirit. Even the slightest of variation from the written word may render the proceedings arising therefrom to be cast in doubt,' the HC noted.
Time of India
19 hours ago
- Time of India
HC quashes conviction & acquits all 12 accused in 2006 Mumbai train blasts case
Mumbai: Severely indicting the prosecution for the case it had made out and the state anti-terror squad for its shoddy probe, the Bombay high court on Monday quashed the conviction of all 12 accused found guilty a decade ago for the July 11, 2006 synchronised Mumbai train blasts between Mahim and Borivli that left 187 dead and 824 injured. The HC refused to confirm death sentences for five and life sentences given on Sept 30, 2015 to seven by the special court set up under the anti-organised crime Act and acquitted all, directing their immediate release. Punishment for an actual criminal is essential to uphold the rule of law, but "creating a false appearance of having solved a case… gives a misleading sense of resolution. This deceptive closure undermines public trust and falsely reassures society, while in reality, the true threat remains at large. Essentially, this is what the case at hand conveys," a special bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak observed in the introduction to their 671-page judgment, before shredding the prosecution case. The identification parade was not conducted properly, witnesses identifying accused in dock after four years lacked credibility and MCOCA was invoked without application of mind, the HC said, discarding confession statements relied on for want of "trustworthiness and completeness." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Gold Is Surging in 2025 — Smart Traders Are Already In IC Markets Learn More Undo The HC also accepted defence arguments of torture of accused vitiating confessional statements. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai "The prosecution utterly failed to establish the offence beyond reasonable doubt against the accused on each count. It is unsafe to reach the satisfaction that the accused committed the offences for which they were convicted and sentenced," the bench held. After over six months of hearing and going through more than 44,000 pages of record, Bombay HC concluded the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) had no case against the 12 accused in the 11/7 train blasts case. Over two decades ago, bombs planted on first-class compartments exploded during the peak evening commute at seven locations on the Western Railway suburban network. They ripped metal and lives between Khar Road and Santacruz, Bandra and Khar Road, Jogeshwari and Mahim Junction, Mira Road and Bhayander, Matunga and Mahim Junction, and Borivli. The prosecution case was of sophisticated explosive RDX being used, of accused being members of terror outfits like SIMI who received training in Pakistan, and of 15 wanted accused, mainly Pakistanis. While the trial court's special MCOCA judge Y D Shinde in 2015 said special public prosecutor Raja Thakare had rightly described the accused as "merchants of death" and Thakare argued that the trial verdict could not be dislodged and the noose be confirmed, the HC noted the prosecution case had unravelled completely. The HC also held that the prosecution failed to prove what kind of explosive was used. It said no importance can be attached to claims of recovery of RDX, circuit boards and detonators, as prosecution failed to prove custody chain before analysis. The dozen men were in prison all along since their arrests in 2006. While one of them died in 2021, the 11 whose appeals were allowed joined on Monday via video-conferencing from prisons across the state, including Pune's Yerawada and prisons in Nashik, Amravati and Nagpur. "Bahut bahut shukriya Sir," said a convict, in white prison uniform with a white topi, on video conference from Yerawada, when defence lawyer Yug Chaudhri, conveyed to them in Hindi that they all stood freed. The HC, in a detailed analysis of the case and evidence on record, said while "prosecution has referred to Al-Qaeda Manual for many things, nothing is brought on record about it." The prosecution case was that wanted accused Azam Cheema alias Babaji, a Pakistani national, and two of the accused given death sentence as planters had conspired since 1999 to wage war against the govt of India and were in touch with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Conspiracy meetings were held in Bandra and one accused brought six Pakistanis to Mumbai in 2006, ATS had said. HC wondered why no CDRs were brought on record. "The alleged connection of the accused with Azam Cheema and members of LeT could have been established with the help of CDRs," HC said. The HC classified prosecution witnesses in four categories: for identification, eyewitnesses of bomb assembly, of conspiracy, and taxi drivers who allegedly ferried two planters. The court discarded their testimonies as doubtful. For one who claimed to have been to a planter's (A3, an alleged 'jihadist') house where he allegedly saw a few Pakistanis whose names he recalled but did not know what the meeting was for, the HC, doubting his credibility, said that "at the same time, he could not recollect the name of a particular dancer, with whom he had a close relationship for over a month in the same year. " Kamal Ansari, given death sentence by the trial judge, died in 2021. He too stood acquitted by HC. Apart from convicts' appeals, before the HC was the state's reference for death sentence confirmation, as required by law for capital punishment to become executable. Thakare and Avdhoot Chimalkar for the state argued the appeals were fit to be dismissed. The conviction relied primarily on the confessions of 11 accused under the stringent MCOCA Act to nail them. Before HC, an alleged planter Naved Khan, from Nagpur prison, had said he suffered "needlessly for 19 years" and while lives were lost, innocents could not be hanged.
Express Tribune
20 hours ago
- Express Tribune
India acquits 12 in deadly 2006 train blasts case
An Indian court acquitted on Monday 12 men previously convicted for a series of bomb blasts that ripped through packed commuter trains in Mumbai in 2006 that killed 187 people. The men were convicted in 2015 of murder, conspiracy, and waging war against the country over the attacks during the evening rush hour of July 11, 2006 that also injured more than 800 people. Five were sentenced to death, while the other seven were given life imprisonment. But, 10 years later, the Bombay High Court set aside a lower court's verdict and acquitted the 12 men. Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak said in their judgement, the prosecution had "utterly failed to establish the offence beyond the reasonable doubt against the accused on each count". The men were ordered to be released from jail "if they are not required to be detained in any other case".
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
7/11 train blasts: Maharashtra govt to challenge acquittal of 12 accused in Supreme Court
The Maharashtra government will challenge the acquittal of 12 accused in the 7/11 Mumbai train bomb blasts case by the Bombay High Court in the Supreme Court , Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday. He described the high court verdict as shocking. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Select a Course Category Public Policy Artificial Intelligence PGDM Cybersecurity Data Science Healthcare Leadership Product Management Data Analytics Operations Management Others Project Management Data Science MCA Digital Marketing CXO Degree Management others Design Thinking Technology Finance healthcare MBA Skills you'll gain: Economics for Public Policy Making Quantitative Techniques Public & Project Finance Law, Health & Urban Development Policy Duration: 12 Months IIM Kozhikode Professional Certificate Programme in Public Policy Management Starts on Mar 3, 2024 Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 12 Months IIM Calcutta Executive Programme in Public Policy and Management Starts on undefined Get Details "I will go through the entire order. I have discussed with the lawyers, and the high court verdict will be challenged in the Supreme Court," he told reporters. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Buy the Dip: Top 5 Dividend Stocks with Growth Potential Seeking Alpha Read Now Undo Nineteen years after seven 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 the accused committed the crime". The court allowed the appeals filed by the accused challenging their conviction and sentences imposed on them by a special court in 2015. Live Events 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. The bench refused to confirm the death penalties imposed on five of the 12 accused and dismissed the confirmation appeals filed by the Maharashtra government.
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Gulf Today
Indian court acquits 12 in deadly 2006 Mumbai train blasts case
An Indian court acquitted on Monday 12 men previously convicted for a series of bomb blasts that ripped through packed commuter trains in Mumbai in 2006 that killed 187 people. The men were convicted in 2015 of murder, conspiracy, and waging war against the country over the attacks during the evening rush hour of July 11, 2006 that also injured more than 800 people. Five were sentenced to death, while the other seven were given life imprisonment. But, 10 years later, the Bombay High Court set aside a lower court's verdict and acquitted the 12 men. Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak said in their judgement, the prosecution had "utterly failed to establish the offence beyond the reasonable doubt against the accused on each count." The men were ordered to be released from jail "if they are not required to be detained in any other case." The prosecution can appeal against the order in the Supreme Court. 209 people were killed in 2006 Mumbai train bombings. It was series of 7 bomb blasts. Photo / X A total of seven blasts ripped through the trains after the bombs, packed into pressure cookers, were placed in bags and hidden under newspapers and umbrellas. Prosecutors said the devices were assembled in Mumbai and deliberately placed in first-class coaches to target the city's wealthy Gujarati community. They said the bombings were intended as revenge for the riots in the western state of Gujarat in 2002, which left some 2,000 people dead, most of them Muslims. Agence France-Presse
