2006 Mumbai train blasts case: Maharashtra government opposes acquittal of all 12 accused in Supreme Court

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court order acquitting all the 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts.

The high court's order on Monday came nearly a decade after a special court found them guilty and awarded the death penalty to five and life sentences to seven.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the state government, urged a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai for an urgent listing of the matter. "It is a serious matter. SLP (special leave petition) is ready. Please list it tomorrow. There is urgency," Mehta urged the bench. The CJI agreed to list the appeal on Wednesday.


As many as 187 had lost their lives in the serial bomb blasts on July 11, 2006, when seven bombs exploded in suburban trains on Mumbai's Western Railway line. The special court convicted the 12 accused in 2015. One of the convicts died due to Covid-19 in 2021 in the Nagpur jail.

The Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all the accused observing that "the prosecution utterly failed in establishing the case beyond reasonable doubts". It observed that the prosecution's case gave the public a "misleading sense of resolution" while "the true threat remains at large".