AS the Bombay High Court acquitted all 12 accused in the 7/11 train bomb blasts case here, survivors of the horrific terror attack called the ruling a “collective failure” of the Government and investigation team, and asserted the perpetrators must be punished at any cost. They said the Maharashtra Government should move the Supreme Court and challenge the acquittal, a step already taken by the state administration. In a video interview to PTI hours after the HC verdict on Monday, Chirag Chauhan (40), a chartered accountant and one of the survivors of the 2006 bombings, described the acquittal ruling as a “collective failure of the government, investigation team and judicial team”. “I think the state government should go to the Supreme Court and demand fair justice or investigation.

 

Those responsible (for the serial blasts) should be punished,” he insisted. HC acquittal verdict shocking: Ex-Mumbai top cop A N Roy: FORMER Mumbai police commissioner A N Roy on Tuesday expressed shock over the the Bombay High Court’s acquittal of all 12 accused in the 7/11 train blasts case, saying the probe in the case was conducted in a professional manner where evidence was collected “honestly and truthfully”. He said the police only chargesheeted the people who had a “core role” in the blasts, and said there was no “witch hunt” involved. Roy headed the city police force when the blasts occurred on July 11, 2006, while the probe in the terror attack was handled by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). More than 180 people were killed when seven blasts ripped through Mumbai local trains at various locations on the western line.

 

Nineteen years later, the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 accused, saying the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case and that it was “hard to believe the accused committed the crime”. Talking to PTI, former Mumbai police chief Roy said, “I am shocked to see the kind of judgment. But it is a judicial verdict, we accept it respectfully.” “The relevant department, which is ATS, is studying the judgment. They will take legal opinion. I am sure they will file an appeal in the Supreme Court on that,” he said.