7 Blasts, 189 Dead, 800 Injured, 0 Accused: What Happened On 11 July In Mumbai 19 Years Ago
Nineteen years after the devastating 2006 Mumbai train bombings, the Bombay High Court overturned the convictions of all 12 men previously sentenced for the attacks.
Seven coordinated blasts shook Mumbai on July 11, 2006, killing 189, no one held accountable.
Nineteen years after a series of coordinated blasts ripped through Mumbai’s suburban railway network, claiming 187 lives and injuring over 800, the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 men previously convicted in the case. Notably, a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court had sentenced five of them to death and the remaining seven to life imprisonment in 2015.
“The prosecution has utterly failed to prove the case against the accued. It is hard to believe that the accused committed the crime. Hence, their conviction is quashed and set aside,” said the division bench of Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Shyam C Chandak.
The court also criticised the handling of key evidence, including the explosives and circuit boxes said to have been used to assemble the bombs.
What Happened On 11 July 2006
On the evening of July 11, 2006, Mumbai witnessed one of its deadliest terror attacks, affecting nearly a thousand lives. Between 6:23 PM and 6:28 PM, seven bombs detonated in quick succession inside first-class compartments of suburban trains on the Western line.
The first blasts struck Mahim, Bandra and Mira Road precisely at 6:23 PM, with the final explosion occurring at Borivali at 6:28 PM. Investigators later determined that the attacks were synchronised using timer devices. The force of the blasts tore through the steel train compartments, hurling bodies onto tracks and platforms. A total of 187 people lost their lives and 829 were injured.
The attacks targeted crowded trains filled with office-goers commuting home to the distant suburbs. The bombs, reportedly sophisticated and extremely powerful, detonated in moving trains between Matunga and Mira Road stations.
At both Mahim and Borivali, the blasts claimed the lives of not just passengers inside the trains but also those standing on the platforms and in trains heading toward Churchgate.
