The Supreme Court of India on Thursday stayed the Bombay High Court's judgment acquitting all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, reports PTI. A bench comprising Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh issued notices to the acquitted individuals and sought their responses to the Maharashtra state government's appeal challenging the high court ruling. The top court also clarified that the high court's judgment should not be treated as a precedent.

Earlier this week, a special bench of the Bombay High Court, Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak, set aside the convictions, stating that the prosecution had failed to establish guilt and expressing doubt over the involvement of the accused. The court allowed the appeals filed by the 12 men, who had been convicted by a special court in 2015. Five had received the death penalty, while the remaining seven were sentenced to life imprisonment. One of the death row convicts died in 2021.

The 2006 coordinated bombings across Mumbai’s western suburban railway line claimed over 180 lives and injured hundreds more. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, which investigated the case, alleged that the accused were members of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and conspired with Pakistani operatives of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

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