'12 Innocents Lost Prime Years In Jail, Maharashtra ATS Must Be Held Accountable For Failure': AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi

Hyderabad: After the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted 12 men in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi asked if the Government of Maharashtra will take action against officers of Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) who investigated the case.

The Hyderabad MP posted on social media platform ‘X’ that for 12 Muslim men who were in jail for 18 years for a crime they didn't commit, their prime life was gone, while there was no closure for over 180 families who lost their loved ones, and those who were injured. “Will Government take action against officers of Maharashtra ATS who investigated this case?” he asked.

“Innocent people are sent to jail and then years later when they are released from jail there is no possibility for reconstruction of their lives. From last 17 years these accused are in jail. They haven't stepped out even for a day. The majority of their prime life is gone,” wrote Owaisi.

Nineteen years after the 2006 Mumbai train blasts claimed 189 lives and left over 800 people injured, the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 people convicted by a lower court in the serial bombing case. In 2015, a trial court had convicted these 12 accused, sentencing five of them to death and the others to life imprisonment.

Setting aside the trial court order, the high court bench of Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Shyam Chandak said the prosecution had "utterly failed" to prove the case against the accused.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president slammed the police for the way they handle terror cases. “In such cases where there is a public outcry, the approach by police is always to first assume guilt and then go from there. Police officers take press conferences in such cases, and the way the media covers the case, it kind of decides the guilt of a person. In many such terror cases, investigating agencies have failed us miserably," posted Owaisi.

“Please remember which parties where (were) ruling Maharashtra in 2006 they are also responsible for disregarding complaints of torture ,& of course the 6pm & 9pm (So called) Nationalist who passed judgments on the guilt of the accused,” he added.

Citing the case of Mohammed Majid, one of the 12 men acquitted, Owaisi said his wife died without a final conversation with Majid.

The father of Faisal and Muzammil, two brothers who are among those acquitted, died of a heart attack after hearing the verdict of death and life sentence for his sons. Their mother died in 2023, wrote the MP.

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