All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday reacted sharply to the Bombay High Court’s acquittal of 12 men convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, calling it a damning indictment of investigative agencies and the criminal justice system.
“Seventeen years in jail. Prime years of life lost. The men convicted in the 2006 train blasts case have finally been acquitted because the prosecution utterly failed to prove its case. What happens now to the lives lost in prison? Who takes responsibility for this gross injustice?” Owaisi said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The Hyderabad MP further lashed out at law enforcement agencies and sections of the media, saying, “In cases with public outcry, the police first assume guilt and then try to build a case around that assumption. Media trials and press conferences by police officers often seal the fate of accused persons even before a fair trial.”
On Friday, the Bombay High Court set aside the 2015 convictions by a special MCOCA court, which had sentenced five to death and seven others to life imprisonment. The court, led by Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak, said the prosecution failed to prove even the type of explosives used, and questioned the credibility of witness statements recorded months after the blasts.
Owaisi pointed to repeated failures of investigating agencies in terror cases involving minorities. “This is not the first time. In many such cases, agencies have miserably failed, leading to the destruction of innocent lives. There is no mechanism to rebuild their lives after wrongful imprisonment,” he said.
The July 11, 2006 blasts killed 189 people and injured over 800, making it one of Mumbai’s deadliest terror attacks. Bombs planted in pressure cookers exploded in seven local trains during peak evening hours.
With the acquittals, all 12 men — including those previously on death row — will walk free after spending nearly two decades behind bars.
