- India, as a country, has been subjected to various acts of terrorism perpetrated from across the western borders need no further elaboration. Time and again, Pakistan has launched heinous terrorist activities against innocent people, resulting in loss of precious lives. This has been a recurring experience for the Indian citizens ever since the nation gained independence. Successive central governments have been at the receiving end, but the incumbent administration has shown the global community that such acts of terrorism will not go unanswered. Thus, the Indian military has responded by carrying out precise, targeted, and coordinated counterattacks deep into the enemy territory, inflicting greater damage on the terrorist infrastructures.
![2006 Mumbai Train Blast] Bombay High Court To Commence Hearing On Confirmation of Death Penalty On October 12](https://lawbeat.in/sites/default/files/news_images/2006%20blast.jpg)
PC: LawBeat
- This fact has been duly acknowledged by the Indians as well as the global community. However, the country must have felt flabbergasted with the acquittal of the accused in the debilitating Mumbai train blasts that left behind 187 killings and more than 800 serious injuries to commuters. This is a devastating indictment of the police and prosecution in equal measure. Bombay HC’s acquittal of the 12 men convicted (seven on life-term, five on death row) for the 11/7 train blasts is deeply worrying, given what judges have revealed about the shoddy investigation and the prosecution’s negligence. HC said the prosecution had utterly failed to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Let’s dwell further on the matter.
PC: NewsBytes
- HC also said that such deceptive closure undermines public trust while the true threat remains at large. Trial court’s conviction was junked on several points that included a) confessions were a product of torture, b) it was very odd that witnesses identified the accused after four years, c) witnesses were stock witnesses, rolled out frequently, d) it took three months before one witness claimed to have seen bombs assembled, e) the prosecution’s evidence was simply not safe to base convictions on. Worryingly, this is the state of investigation into one of the worst terror attacks India has suffered; one shudders to think what many routine probes entail. July 2006 saw synchronised blasts on seven suburban trains in Mumbai within minutes during evening rush hour.
PC: iPleaders
- Anti-terror cops charged the accused under the harsh state law MCOCA and the stringent anti-terror law UAPA in November 2006. In 2015, a special court convicted all 12. The convicts’ appeals have been pending in the Bombay HC since 2015. Maharashtra state asked HC to confirm the sentences. HC acquitted all after regular hearings for six months since July 2024. Sloppy investigation where the police and the prosecution’s sole aim is to pretend a case is solved has led to acquittals. Most disconcertingly, the acquittal numbers are on the rise, raising questions about the investigative agencies’ professionalism. The latest acquittals are a loud wake-up call. Cops and trial court judges must give their full and serious attention to this aspect forthwith.
