The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Bombay High Court verdict acquitting all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train bomb blasts case.The court, however, said there was no question of bringing the 12 back to prison and emphasised that the high court judgement shall not be treated as a precedent.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh issued notice to all the accused in the case and sought their response on the appeal filed by the state government.
“We have been informed that all the respondents have been released and there is no question of bringing them back to the prison. However, taking note of the submission made by the Solicitor General on the question of law, we are inclined to hold that the impugned judgment shall not be treated as a precedent. To that extent, there shall be a stay of the impugned judgment,” the bench said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Maharashtra government.
The Maharashtra government has assailed a Bombay High Court judgment acquitting all 12 convicts in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case in the Supreme Court on grounds, including that the recovery of RDX from an accused, was disbelieved on a “hyper-technical ground” that the seized explosives were not sealed with a lac seal.
The state government, in its appeal, has raised several serious objections to the high court’s order of acquittal.