The North News
New Delhi, July 24
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Bombay High Court’s controversial judgment in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case would not be treated as a legal precedent in future cases, while allowing the release of the eleven men acquitted by the High Court to stand. The bench, hearing a plea from the National Investigation Agency (NIA), clarified that while it would not overturn the acquittals at this stage, it was staying the High Court’s judgment to the “limited extent” of its application in other legal contexts.
“All respondents have been released, and there is therefore no question of bringing them back to prison,” the court observed. “However, on the question of law, we state that the impugned judgment shall not be treated as precedent in any other case. Let there be a stay on the judgment to that extent,” the Supreme Court said according to media reports.
The Bombay High Court on July 21 has acquitted the twelve men previously convicted in connection with the coordinated serial bombings that tore through Mumbai’s suburban railway network on July 11, 2006, killing 189 people and injuring more than 800. The High Court had cited major lapses in the investigation and lack of credible evidence.
