Supreme Court stays Mumbai blasts verdict, accused won’t be rearrested | Mumbai News
NEW DELHI: Supreme Court Thursday stayed the Bombay high court order acquitting all 12 accused, including five death sentence convicts, in the 11/7 Mumbai train blasts case of 2006 but directed that they would not have to go back to prison and would remain free till it finally decided the case.As the HC ruling touched upon various provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) which could have a bearing on trial of other cases under it, a bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N K Singh said the HC ruling would not be treated as a precedent as of now.At the start of the hearing, SG Tushar Mehta, appearing for state govt, pressed for stay on order because of its potential to affect other cases, but clarified that the govt did not want the accused to be sent back to jail. He informed the bench that all accused had been freed after the HC verdict and could remain outside, but requested the court to stay the order.Agreeing with the SG’s plea, the bench stayed the July 21 order and issued notice to all accused seeking their response on the govt’s appeal seeking quashing of the HC verdict, which would revive the trial court’s conviction order.SC: Impugned judgment shall not be a precedentHearing Maharashtra govt’s appeal against the Bombay HC acquittal of 12 accused of the 11/7 Mumbai train blasts case, an SC bench on Tuesday observed, “We have been informed that all respondents have been released and there is no question of bringing them back to prison. However, taking note of the submission made by the solicitor general on the question of law, we are inclined to hold that the impugned judgment shall not be treated as a precedent. To that extent, there is a stay of the impugned judgment.”The HC had quashed the judgment of a special MCOCA court which had convicted all accused and handed death sentence to five and life term to seven for the blasts on Mumbai’s Western Railway local network on July 11, 2006, in which 189 people died and nearly 820 sustained injuries. A bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak had held that the prosecution failed to establish guilt of the accused and severely indicted the prosecution for its shoddy probe. In its judgment, the HC said “creating a false appearance of having solved a case by presenting that the accused have been brought to justice gives a misleading sense of resolution.”
