Family of Kamal Ansari, who died in jail, reads Bombay High Court acquittal at his grave in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case, highlighting delayed justice.
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NAGPUR: On July 11, 2006, seven coordinated blasts ripped through Mumbai’s suburban trains on the Western line, killing over 180 people and leaving the city scarred. In the aftermath, a dozen men were arrested, accused, and branded as terrorists by the authorities. Among them was Kamal Ahmad Vakil Ahmad Ansari, a small-time chicken shop owner and vegetable seller from Madhubani, Bihar.
Ansari’s life took a tragic turn when he was picked up by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). For 16 years, he remained behind bars, fighting charges he always insisted were false. His family endured stigma, humiliation, and the crushing weight of being associated with terrorism. In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ansari died inside Nagpur Central Jail—still branded a terrorist, still awaiting justice.
On July 21, 2025, the Bombay High Court delivered a landmark judgment, acquitting all 12 accused in the Mumbai train blasts case. The court’s words were sharp: the prosecution had “utterly failed” to prove its case, and it was “hard to believe the accused committed the crime.” The judgment went further, dismissing the so-called confessions of the accused as inadmissible and even hinting at “copying” in the evidence presented.
For Ansari, however, this was a hollow victory. Justice arrived four years after his death. His grave in Jaripatka Muslim Qabristan, Nagpur, became the site of a unique gathering last Sunday. His family, community members, and activists read aloud para 1,486 of the High Court judgment, publicly affirming what Ansari had always maintained: he was innocent.
Dr. Abdul Wahid Sheikh, general secretary of Innocence Network, was among those present at Ansari’s grave.
“He languished in prison for 16 years, his dignity stripped, his family stigmatised, and his pleas unheard,”
Sheikh said.
Ansari’s five children grew up fatherless, while his wife bore the brunt of social stigma and economic hardship.
Once a man working tirelessly to provide for his family, Ansari’s life was destroyed by a system that failed him. His story is a painful reminder that acquittal after decades in jail—or worse, after death—is not justice, but an indictment of the justice system itself.
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Those who gathered at his grave called the act not just a prayer, but an assertion of resistance. They demanded accountability from the system, highlighting that Ansari’s story is not an isolated one. Across India, countless innocents have been branded as terrorists, locked away for years, and left to fight impossible legal battles with little support. Some, like Ansari, never live to see their names cleared.
“Ansari’s story is not an isolated one but a chilling reminder of how countless innocents are branded as terrorists, locked away for decades, and sometimes die in prison before justice ever reaches them,”
Sheikh added.
Case Title:
The State of Maharashtra v. Kamal Ahmed Mohd. Vakil Ansari and Ors
CONFIRMATION CASE NO. 02 OF 2015
READ JUDGMENT HERE
Click Here to Read More Reports On 7/11 Mumbai Train Blasts
