The Maharashtra government received harsh criticism from the Bombay High Court for failing to appoint a new special public prosecutor (SPP) to represent it in the appeals related to the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts case.
The government was not treating the case with seriousness, said a division bench of Justices Nitin Sambre and Rajesh Patil. While the trial court sentenced five accused to death in the case in 2015, the hearing on its confirmation as well as the appeals filed by the accused in the high court is yet to start.
On July 11, 2006, seven bombs that occurred during the evening rush hour in Mumbai killed more than 180 persons and injured many more. The State Government had not yet appointed a special public prosecutor, the court was informed when the appeals were scheduled for hearing on Wednesday. Raja Thakare, a seasoned attorney, was chosen to serve as SPP because he served as the prosecution throughout the trial. He did not want to serve as SPP at the appellate level though, thus the hearing was postponed.
Government approached Thakare again, requesting him to take up the brief. But the terms of his appointment were yet to be decided, the court was told. When the Government sought more time on Wednesday, the bench got irked. Is this the way you are treating these appeals? There is no seriousness with which the Government is treating this issue. We will summon the chief secretary of the State Home Department to answer us tomorrow morning, the judges said.