Families of Acquitted in 2006 Mumbai Train Blasts Case Express Relief, Recall Years of Struggle
Family members of the 12 men acquitted in the 2006 Mumbai local train blasts case on Monday expressed immense relief, recounting the hardships they endured during their loved ones’ long years behind bars. As they rushed to complete the necessary paperwork to secure the release of those acquitted from various jails across Maharashtra, many said they had believed in their relatives’ innocence from the very beginning.
The case pertains to a series of coordinated blasts on seven western suburban train coaches in Mumbai on July 11, 2006, which killed 189 commuters and injured 824 others. On Monday, the Bombay High Court overturned the 2015 verdict delivered by a special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA), which had sentenced five of the accused to death and seven others to life imprisonment.
Dr. Tanveer Ansari, one of those serving a life term, was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in 2006 when his daughter was just six months old, his brother Maqsood shared. A resident of Agripada, Tanveer had completed his Unani medicine studies in Nagpur and was working at a hospital at the time of his arrest. The ATS had alleged that he surveyed the trains ahead of the blasts.
Maqsood Ansari shared that families of those convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts stayed connected and supported each other through a group called Innocent Families.
Besides Dr. Tanveer Ansari, six others were serving life terms, while five more were awarded the death penalty—one of whom, Kamal Ansari, died in prison in 2021.
Wahid Shaikh, acquitted in 2015 after nine years in jail, continued to fight for justice for the rest. Calling the case “bogus,” he said the accused were tortured into false confessions.
Shaikh also founded the Innocence Network to help others wrongfully imprisoned. At a recent event marking 19 years since the blasts, families spoke of years lost to poverty, grief, and waiting for justice.
