Mumbai: CM Devendra Fadnavis expressed shock at the Bombay high court verdict quashing the conviction of all 12 accused in the 11/7 train blasts case. “The Bombay HC decision is very shocking. We will challenge it in the Supreme Court,” he said. Fadnavis said, “The lower court gave a verdict, and in 2006, after the blasts, the ATS caught the accused, collected evidence and presented it before the courts. I have not read the full (HC) judgement, but I discussed it with the lawyers and informed them it must be challenged in Supreme Court. We will go to SC at the earliest,” he said.BJP’s Kirit Somaiya, who has been advocating for the train blasts survivors, said the CM had assured him the state would appeal. “We are all shocked and pained by the verdict. I have spoken to CM Fadnavis. He has assured us the govt will seek help of top legal experts and an appeal will be filed as soon as possible,” said Somaiya, who had taken a group of survivors to meet additional chief secretary (CMO) I S Chahal in Mantralaya on Monday.“The lower court had awarded death sentence. But there must have been some shortcomings in the investigation conducted in 2006. I am convinced SC will give us justice,” Somaiya added.Revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “We will be looking into the basis on which they have been acquitted and whether additional proof was required. We will look into the possibility of an appeal after consulting the CM.”Food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal said, “We will have to carefully look into where the prosecution fell short and what was missing. After that, we could go to SC.”Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora said on X, “As a Mumbaikar, I cannot accept the verdict… In 2006, I was an MP from Mumbai and went and saw what happened in that terrorist attack. I appeal to the Maharashtra government that they should involve the best lawyers and appeal against the verdict as soon as possible.”Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad said on X, “Victims of the Mumbai train blasts must get justice. The Chief Minister should urgently intervene in this matter. An appeal must be filed in the SC.” She added, “I think the Maharashtra govt may not have done what we expected in terms of the collection of evidence or appointment of the public prosecutor.”Rohit Pawar from NCP (SP) said, “We will have to look at why the court gave this decision and whether the evidence fell short. Did the state govt fall short in presenting its position?” Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Nirupam said, “The order is very unfortunate and essentially says none of those arrested were responsible. The question is – then who orchestrated the blasts? Was there anything lacking in the work done by the probe agency?”
