India’s top court curbs impact of acquittal of 12 Muslim men jailed for 7/11 blasts
Supreme Court blocks acquittal from setting legal precedent, but declines to re-arrest Muslim men wrongly jailed for nearly two decades
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — India’s Supreme Court has issued a partial stay on the acquittal of 12 Muslim men who were exonerated earlier this week in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings case, ruling that the judgment should not serve as a precedent in future terror trials.
The 12 men had spent nearly 19 years in prison before the Bombay High Court overturned their convictions, citing fabricated evidence, procedural lapses, and custodial torture. Five had been sentenced to death, while seven received life terms under a draconian anti-organized crime law.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court declined a request from state authorities to re-arrest the men, but agreed to restrict the legal impact of the acquittal. The bench, comprising Justices MM Sundresh and NK Singh, noted that since the men had already been released, there was “no question” of sending them back to prison.
However, it ruled that the High Court’s judgment “shall not be treated as precedent,” citing concerns raised by the state over its potential influence on other ongoing terrorism cases.
The acquittal—delivered on July 21—had overturned a 2015 ruling by a special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), which found the men guilty of planning and executing a series of coordinated explosions on Mumbai’s suburban railway network that killed over 180 people.
In a scathing judgment, the Bombay High Court found the state’s case riddled with inconsistencies and misconduct. It ruled that the prosecution failed to establish the guilt of the accused, and pointed to serious irregularities in the investigation by Maharashtra’s anti-terrorism squad.
Several accused were reportedly tortured in custody, and key witnesses were either unreliable or produced after suspiciously long delays.
One witness was found to have testified in unrelated bombing cases, undermining his credibility. Others failed to explain how they were suddenly able to identify the accused after remaining silent for years. The court also flagged a compromised chain of custody in relation to explosive materials allegedly recovered, stating that the evidence had not been properly secured before forensic analysis.
Civil liberties advocates have long criticized the case as emblematic of how India’s anti-terror laws disproportionately target Muslims, often relying on coerced confessions and flimsy evidence.
With the Supreme Court’s latest order, the acquitted men remain free but the legal weight of their exoneration has been curbed—raising fears that similar wrongful convictions could be upheld in other cases without meaningful judicial scrutiny.
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