The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to list for urgent hearing the Maharashtra government’s appeal challenging Bombay High Court’s acquittal of
all 12 Mumbai train blast convicts.
The 2006 blasts had claimed over 180 lives.
A bench headed by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai scheduled a hearing for Thursday after solicitor-general Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter for urgent listing and sought a stay of the impugned judgment.
The bench, which included Justices K. Vinod Chandran and N.V. Anjaria, observed that it had read newspapers wherein it was mentioned that some of the convicts had already been released.
On Monday, a two-judge division bench of the high court had acquitted the 12 convicts after holding that the prosecution had “utterly failed” to establish the case against the convicts. It also quashed the death sentence imposed on five of the convicts and the life sentences on the remaining seven convicts by a special MOCOCA court.
The verdict came 19 years after the serial blasts on Mumbai’s local trains on July 7, 2006.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had expressed shock at the high court verdict and decided to file the present appeal in the apex court against the acquittals.