Mumbai blasts acquitted man seeks Rs 9 cr compensation

Abdul Wahid Shaikh, the only accused acquitted by the trial court in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, has sought a compensation of Rs 9 crore for his “wrongful incarceration” and “custodial torture”.

IMAGE: The view of a local train damaged by a blast in Mumbai on July 11, 2006. Photograph: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Reuters

All remaining accused in the case were acquitted by the Bombay High Court in July this year.

In his applications filed before the National Human Rights Commission as well as Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission on Friday, Abdul Wahid Shaikh also requested support for rehabilitation.

Nine years after he was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in the blasts case, a special court in 2015 cleared him of all charges.

The period of imprisonment caused “irreparable” damage to his career, education and personal life, and the “brutal custodial torture” left him with serious health issues, his application said.

Further, the “stigma” of being branded a “terrorist” made it difficult for him to find employment after his release, said Shaikh.

He is working as a school teacher and is the sole breadwinner of the family, he said, adding that his family suffered socially, emotionally, and economically when he was in jail.

He also incurred a debt of nearly Rs 30 lakh for medical and living expenses, Shaikh claimed.

The plea mentioned that he did not seek compensation for ten years for “moral reasons”, as his co-accused had been convicted.

“I decided to wait until all my co-accused were acquitted and proven innocent,” it added.

While the trial court acquitted Shaikh in 2015, it sentenced five of the other 12 men to death and seven to life imprisonment. One of the death row convicts died in 2021.

In July 2025, the Bombay High Court acquitted all 12 accused, noting that the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case.

Shaikh’s plea also cited similar cases where human rights commissions granted compensation to victims of wrongful imprisonment.

Seven train blasts on Western Railway’s suburban network in Mumbai on July 11, 2006, killed more than 180 persons.