Nine years after serial blasts rocked seven first-class compartments of the north-bound suburban trains in Mumbai killing 189 people and leaving 824 others injured, a special court on Friday convicted 12 accused, all allegedly having links with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), in what has come to be known as India’s 7/11 attacks case.
Delivering a verdict in India’s 7/11 attacks significantly on the 14th anniversary of 9/11 attacks in the US, Addit-ional Sessions Judge YD Shinde held all the 12 accused guilty under Section 3 (1) (i) Mahar-ashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Sections of Explosives Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Indian Railway Act. He convicted five of them under Section 302 of IPC. The MCOCA sections attract a maximum punishment of death penalty.
The Judge, however, discharged one of the accused —Abdul Wahid Din Mohammed Shaikh — for want of sufficient evidence. The 12 accused who have been convicted in the case are: Kamal Ahamed Ansari (37), Tanvir Ahmed Ansari (37), Mohd Faisal Shaikh (36), Ehtesham Siddiqui (30), Mohammad Majid Shafi (32), Shaikh Alam Shaikh (41), Mohd Sajid Ansari (34),Muzzammil Shaikh (27), Soheil Mehmood Shaikh (43), Zamir Ahmad Shaikh (36), Naveed Hussain Khan (30) and Asif Khan (38).
Beginning from Monday next, both the prosecution and defence will argue on the quantum of sentences to be awarded to the 12 convicted persons.
The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Mumbai Police, it may be recalled, had filed a charge-sheet in the 7/11 case before the Special MCOCA court on November 30, 2006, 142 days after the serial blasts that rocked seven first-class compartments of north-suburban bound trains in Mumbai.
Explosives comprising a cocktail of RDX, ammonium nitrate and lubricant, concealed in pressure cookers, were used in the serial bombings.
In a time span of just 11 minutes — from 6.24 pm to 6.35 on July 11, 2006, serial bomb blasts had ripped through the first class compartments of north-bound trains between har Road-Santacruz, Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Mira Road- Bhayander, Matunga- Mahim Junction and at Borivali.
While 187 people were killed in the immediate aftermath of the train bombings, two more survivors died subsequently.
In its 10,667-page charge-sheet filed in the 7/11 case, the ATS listed as many as 28 accused. Of the accused, 13 — all Indians — had been arrested. It had also named nine Pakistani nationals allegedly involved in the serial train bombings, including the main conspirator Azam Cheema — all of whom are absconding.
The charge-sheet had among other things stated that Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were made in a room in Govandi in suburban Mumbai and some Pakistani nationals were also present during the bomb-making.
Cheema -- Bahawalpur-based leT commander and one of the key ISI operatives - headed the list of nine Pakistani nationals wanted in the 7/11 case. The eight other Pakistani nationals named in the charge-sheet were: Aslam, Hafizullah, Saabir, Abu Baker, Kasam Ali, Ammu Jaan, Ehsan Ehsanuallah and Abbu Hassan.
Cheema had handpicked recruits to carry out the serial blasts.
The Prosecution’s case was that the accused had executed the train blasts at the behest of lashkar-e-Taiba (leT). They have been charged on 32 counts, including murder, criminal conspiracy and waging a war against the nation.
During the eight-year-long trial, the Prosecution examined 192 witnesses, including eight Indian Police Service (IPS) and five Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers as well as 18 doctors. On their part, the defence lawyers examined 51 witnesses, while one person was called as a court witness.
The 7/11 trial, it may be recalled, had resumed on May 24, 2010, following a Supreme Court order vacating a stay on the trials in the July 11,2006 train bombings, the September 8, 2006 Malegaon blasts and the May 2006 Aurangabad arms haul cases.
The apex court had, on February 29,2008, stayed the trials in all the three cases, after three of the accused, including one Zameer Ahmed latifur Rehman Sheikh, challenged the applicability of section 2 (1) (e) MCOCA that deals with “insurgency” on the ground that internal security was a Central matter.
Talking to mediapersons outside the special court, Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakre said that he would seek strictest punishment for the accused. “I will pray for the strictest punishment, you will come to know when I argue on Monday. Some of the sections under which the accused have been convicted death penalty,” Thakre said.
Meanwhile, all political parties welcomed the special court verdict, convicting 12 out of 13 arrested accused in the case.
State BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said, “This judgement speaks volumes of the country’s resolve against terrorism”.
Alluding to the delay in the pronouncement of the verdict, Bhandari said: “We hope that in future justice is given to victims much faster so that the bereaved families are assured that the state will not tolerate terrorism of any kind”.
Welcoming the verdict, Sanjay Nirupam said such convictions only strengthened the people’s resolve in the country’s judiciary. “I welcome the MCOCA court’s verdict. Such convictions strengthen the country and anti-terror agencies to fight against terrorism in future...when the courts convict those proved to be involved in a terror attack, it strengthens the people’s resolve in the judiciary of the nation,” Nirupam said.
“Though late, justice has prevailed. If this verdict would have come earlier, those affected by these attacks would have probably been much happier. Though our judiciary is capable of bringing such cases to a logical conclusion, these cases of terror need to be fast-tracked,” Mumbai NCP chief Sachin Ahir said.