The Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai, Justice K Vinod Chandran, and Justice N V Anjaria admitted the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Maharashtra Government, challenging the Bombay High Court’s judgment acquitting the 12 individuals convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train attacks.
Following the multiple explosions of pressure-cooker bombs on 11 July 2006 in Mumbai’s local trains that took 189 lives and injured over 800 people, Special Court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) convicted 12 suspects in September 2015, sentencing five to death and seven to life imprisonment.
The defendants’ conviction was upheld at trial. However, on 21 July 2025, the Bombay High Court bench of Justice Anil Kilor and Justice S.M. Chandak dramatically overturned these convictions, stating that the prosecution “utterly failed to prove” its case. The court noted serious defects in evidence, including forced confessions, unreliable eyewitness accounts, and flawed forensic examination, leading it to conclude that it was “hard to believe the accused committed the crime”.
Making an oral mention before the bench citing the urgency of the matter, the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta requested for a hearing at the earliest.
The case has been scheduled for hearing on 24 July 2025.