However, the Bombay High Court has ruled that Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad had “utterly failed to establish the offences beyond reasonable doubt against the accused”.

The judgement notes that some of the confessions were extracted through torture, the forensic evidence was mishandled, and some of the eyewitnesses were either not reliable or were ‘stock witnesses’ also used in other criminal proceedings.

In one case, a witness who allegedly saw bombs being assembled remained silent for 100 days and was initially a suspect before changing his statement.

There is no doubt that the 2006 blasts were an act of terror and those behind it must be punished for mass murder. However, as the court rightly pointed out, the rule of law would be undermined if those innocent of the crime are convicted merely to create “a false appearance of having solved a case. This deceptive closure undermines public trust and falsely reassures society, while in reality, the true threat remains at large”.

The botched investigation itself should be looked at even as the hunt for the real killers begins afresh. A new investigation team should be constituted to collect watertight evidence—to the extent possible after all these years—and nail the culprits in a retrial.

Pursuing an appeal based on the current probe may be counter-productive. Action against terrorists responsible for so many deaths cannot be weakened by further administrative missteps.