The Maharashtra government has assailed a Bombay High Court judgment acquitting all 12 convicts in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case in the Supreme Court on grounds including that the recovery of RDX from an accused was disbelieved on a "hyper-technical ground" that the seized explosives were not sealed with a lac seal.
The state government rushed to the top court a day after the high court acquitted all the 12 accused, saying the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case against them and it was "hard to believe" that the accused had committed the crime.
Earlier in the day, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on behalf of the state government, mentioned the plea before an apex court bench headed by Chief Justice B R Gavai and sought an urgent hearing. The court agreed to hear it on July 24.
The state government, in its appeal, has raised several serious objections to the high court's order of acquittal.
The plea has asserted that due procedural safeguards under Section 23(2) of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) were observed, including proper sanctioning by senior officers like prosecution witness (PW) no. 185 Anami Roy.
It said the high court overlooked the validity of these approvals despite no substantial contradiction in the prosecution's evidence.
The plea has assailed the high court's rejection of the recovery of 500 grams of RDX from one of the accused on the ground that it lacked a lac seal.
The plea has said that RDX, being highly inflammable, was not sealed for safety reasons and the recovery was duly sanctioned and documented.
"That, the Hon'ble High Court has disbelieved the recovery of 500 gms of RDX from Accused No. 1 on a hyper-technical ground that the RDX which was seized was not sealed with a lac seal. It will be pertinent to note that the same was not sealed with a lac seal because RDX is an inflammable substance.
"It is pertinent to note that the High Court records that the sanctioning authority for explosive substances has been examined by the prosecution. However, the Hon'ble High Court has not found any infirmities in the evidence of PW 26, who is the sanctioning authority under the Explosive Substances Act for seizure of RDX from Accused No. 1. Therefore, the High Court has erred in disbelieving the recovery of RDX from Accused No. 1," the plea has said.
It has also disputed the high court's dismissal of the confession of an accused for lacking minute details, such as the date of arrival of the Pakistani co-conspirators in India, the description of the six Pakistanis and information like whether they had trained in terrorist camps.
"The entire confessional statement has been disbelieved which is an unacceptable conclusion," the plea has said, adding that omissions regarding the identities and origins of the Pakistani co-conspirators do not invalidate the overall confession.
The appeal also challenges the high court's disregard of the recovery of detonators and explosive granules from another accused, pointing out that these items cannot be easily procured or planted, and their evidentiary value should not have been dismissed over technicalities.
The petition says the high court failed to address the validity of the convictions under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and relevant provisions of the Explosive Substances Act.
It says the high court ignored key findings and legal interpretations from previous landmark judgments.
The plea addresses the defence's contention that the accused did not meet the definition of "continuing unlawful activity" under the MCOCA due to earlier offences being punishable by less than three years.
Citing Supreme Court precedents, the plea says the conspiracy and scale of the attack clearly fall under MCOCA provisions.
Of the 12, five were sentenced to death and seven to life imprisonment by a special court. One of the death-row convicts died in 2021.
More than 180 people were killed when seven blasts ripped through Mumbai local trains at various locations on the western line on July 11, 2006.