The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Bombay High Court’s judgment acquitting all 12 men in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, taking note of the Maharashtra government’s concern that the ruling could adversely impact several pending trials under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). However, the top court clarified that it was not staying the release of the 12 accused, all of whom have already walked free following their acquittal earlier this week.
A bench of justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh also issued notices to all 12 men and sought their replies on the state’s appeal.“We are inclined to hold that the impugned judgment shall not be treated as a precedent. Therefore, there will be a stay of the impugned judgment,” the court said in its brief order.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Maharashtra government, urged the court to stay the effect of the high court verdict, not on the ground of opposing the release of the acquitted men, but because the judgment contained certain observations that could cast a shadow over other MCOCA cases currently under trial.
“I am conscious of the matter of liberty. I am not seeking a stay on their release. But we want the judgment to be stayed because there are certain findings by the high court which may affect other pending MCOCA trials. Thus, the impugned judgment needs to be stayed,” Mehta submitted.
Accepting the contention, the bench said the high court ruling shall not carry precedential value until further orders.
The development came in the wake of the Maharashtra government’s swift appeal against the July 21 judgment of the Bombay High Court, which overturned the convictions of 12 men by a MCOCA special court in 2015. Five of them had been sentenced to death and the rest to life imprisonment.