Mumbai, Dec 25 (PTI) Courts in Mumbai in 2025 acquitted all the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast and 2006 serial train blasts cases, while the prosecuting agencies decided to file an appeal against the acquittal
of 12 Muslim men in the train blasts case.
Bollywood also featured in court stories this year, with lyricist Javed Akhtar settling his defamation case against actor-turned BJP MP Kangana Ranaut, putting an end to `tarikh-pe-tarikh’ (adjournment after adjournment) of proceedings.
On July 21, the Bombay High Court acquitted all the 12 accused in the `7/11’ Mumbai serial train blasts case, stating that the prosecution had utterly failed to prove their involvement.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra Police had claimed that the accused were members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and had hatched the conspiracy in connivance with Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
In its 671-page judgement, the high court declared all confessional statements as inadmissible, suggesting that they had been simply copy-pasted.
Seven blasts ripped through Mumbai local trains on July 11, 2006, killing more than 180 persons. The high court overturned the convictions of the accused by the trial court.
The Maharashtra government promptly filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, which stayed the HC order but said the accused shall remain free till the appeal is decided.
A special court on July 31 acquitted seven accused including BJP leader Pragya Thakur and army officer Lt Col Prasad Purohit in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case.
The court held that the prosecution did not present cogent and reliable evidence to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
Six people were killed and 101 injured in a blast at Malegaon in Maharashtra’s Nashik district on September 29, 2008.
So far, the National Investigation Agency has not filed an appeal in the high court against the acquittals. The family members of the blast victims moved the HC, which issued notices to the accused and will hear the appeal.
In September, the high court stepped in and rebuked Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange and his supporters for bringing the city to a standstill during their agitation at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
The court gave an ultimatum to Jarange and his supporters to vacate the ground where they were camping without permission. The activist then called off his hunger strike and ended the protest.
On November 18, a city court framed charges against NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik in a money laundering case linked to the Dawood Ibrahim gang, paving the way for his trial.
After five years of legal wrangling, Javed Akhtar and Kangana Ranaut decided to call a truce.
The veteran screenwriter and lyricist filed a defamation case against Ranaut after she claimed in an interview that Akhtar had pressurised her to apologize to Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan, with whom she had a highly publicized dispute in 2016.
While Akhtar accused her of tarnishing his reputation, Ranaut in a counter-complaint accused him of criminal intimidation and insult to modesty.
But on February 28 this year, both withdrew their complaints against each other.
Several accused arrested in the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case were granted bail on the ground of prolonged incarceration. The trial in the high-profile case is yet to start.
A number of celebrities moved the HC seeking protection of their `personality rights’, complaining that their images, videos and sound were being manipulated, often using AI tools, for creating content for websites without their permission. The HC granted relief to all of them.
The high court also directed that an FIR be registered against the five policemen indicted by a magistrate’s court in its report on the death in custodial `encounter’ of Akshay Shinde, accused in the Badlapur school sexual assault case.
In January, the high court in a significant ruling held that the use of loudspeakers is not an `essential part’ of any religion, and directed the authorities to take action against loudspeakers that violate noise pollution norms.
In March, the high court granted relief to former SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and five other officials, asking the Anti-Corruption Bureau to not act on a special court order directing it to register an FIR against them for alleged stock market fraud and regulatory violations.
Cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal and his estranged wife Dhanashree Verma moved the court seeking that they be granted divorce by mutual consent without waiting for the mandatory six months. The HC allowed the waiver of the `cooling period’ and a family court granted the couple divorce.
Comedian Kunal Kamra got relief from the HC which directed police not to arrest him in FIRs over his “traitor” jibe directed at Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde.
In May, the high court’s vacation bench granted bail to a teen student arrested for her social media post on the Indo-Pak military conflict, while rebuking the Maharashtra government for its “radical” reaction to the post.
In September, however, the court said the case against her cannot be quashed merely because she had deleted her post and apologized.
In October, the high court dismissed a petition filed by industrialist Anil Ambani challenging an order passed by the State Bank of India classifying his and his company Reliance Communications’ accounts as `fraudulent’.
In October, the CBI told the high court that it had accepted the 2018 acquittal of 22 accused in the 2005 alleged fake encounter case of gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati, and would not file an appeal.
Shaikh was killed in November 2006 in an `encounter’ near Ahmedabad by the Gujarat police. His wife Kausar Bi was also allegedly killed. A year later, Prajapati, considered a key eye-witness, was killed in another alleged encounter.
In November, the HC upheld the life sentence of a security guard for the murder of lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha in 2012, noting that the prosecution established his guilt beyond doubt. PTI SP/AVI KRK VT VT
