Mumbai: Eighteen years after a series of blasts ripped through seven suburban trains on the Western Railway network, the Bombay High Court on Monday began hearing the appeals filed by convicts in the case.
Apart from appeals filed by the convicts, a special bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak will also hear the state government’s pleas seeking confirmation of the death penalty imposed on some of them.
On July 11, 2006, seven blasts occurred in as many Western Railway suburban trains, killing more than 180 persons and injuring several others.
In September 2015, the trial court convicted 12 accused. Five were given the death penalty while the remaining seven were sentenced to life imprisonment.
The state government then filed an appeal in HC seeking confirmation of the death penalty. A death sentence awarded by the trial court has to be confirmed by the HC.
The convicts too filed appeals challenging their conviction and sentences.
Since 2015, the pleas have come up before 11 different benches but have not been taken up as yet.
Last week, the HC set up a special bench to hear the appeals.
The bench on Monday said it would hear the matter on a day-to-day basis in the morning session and directed that convicts in the case be produced before it via video conferencing from their respective jails and not physically.
The defence and prosecution had earlier said the hearing was likely to take around six months to complete.
Special public prosecutor Raja Thakare began his arguments with a brief overview of what happened on the day of the blasts. He said the intensity of the blasts was such that sides of the local trains were ripped apart.
“Limbs and body parts were scattered and blood was everywhere at the sites where these incidents took place. Bags and luggage of passengers were also scattered around. Out of panic people jumped and lost their lives. It is difficult to imagine how this was handled at that time,” he said.
Advocate Payoshi Roy, appearing for some of the convicts, said the accused were innocent and had been implicated in the case.
