Almost 20 years after they were first charged in connection with one of India’s most devastating terror strikes, the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 men convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings.
The division bench overturned a 2015 judgment delivered by a special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), which had sentenced five of the accused to death and handed life terms to seven others. One of the originally charged individuals had been acquitted earlier in the process.
The 12 men, who are now expected to be released, were from varied walks of life—some engineers, others small business owners—some of whom were once associated with Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Their release follows nearly two decades spent behind bars awaiting justice.
SIMI is a banned student organisation that Indian federal authorities associated with multiple terror attacks that happened in 2000s. Following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, SIMI’s rhetoric grew increasingly radical and provocative. In 2001, the organization was banned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act due to concerns over its extremist stance. Although a special tribunal briefly lifted the ban in August 2008, it was swiftly reinstated on August 6, 2008, by then Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, citing national security concerns.
When was SIMI founded?
SIMI was founded on April 25, 1977, at Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, with Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi—then a Professor of Journalism and Public Relations at Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois—serving as its founding president. Initially established as the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, the alliance was short-lived.
Tensions came to a head in 1981 during the visit of Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat to India. While JIH leadership welcomed Arafat as a symbol of Palestinian resistance, young SIMI members protested his visit in New Delhi, waving black flags and branding him a puppet of Western powers. The ideological rift proved irreconcilable. In response, JIH severed ties with SIMI and went on to create a new student body—the Students Islamic Organisation.
SIMI projects itself as an organization committed to promoting Islamic values among the youth, with a stated aim of establishing a Shariah-based order through what it refers to as “Islami Inquilab” (Islamic revolution). Rejecting the concept of the nation-state, SIMI opposes India's secular framework.
SIMI was widely viewed as hostile toward Western ideologies and cultures it classifies as ‘anti-Islamic.’ Among its core objectives is to challenge what it perceives as moral decline and permissiveness in Indian society, as well as the cultural influence of the West, which it describes as degenerate and insensitive, as per South Asian Terrorism Portal.
Ideologically, SIMI rejects secularism, democracy, and nationalism—values enshrined in the Indian Constitution—arguing that they are incompatible with Islamic principles. Instead, it calls for the restoration of the khilafat (Caliphate), the unification of the global Muslim ummah (community), and the pursuit of jihad to establish Islamic supremacy.
Over the years, SIMI has adopted increasingly radical and militant positions on issues it considers central to the Muslim community, drawing significant concern from Indian authorities and civil society alike. SIMI's interpretation of Islam is influenced to a great extent by the writings of Syed Abul A'ala Maududi, founder of the Jamaat-e Islami.
Shaheen Force, the outfit’s wing for schoolchildren, seeks to "protect the children from present-day misguidance and vices" and keeps them "under the shade of Islamic culture", according to South Asian Terrorism Portal.
Funding and training
SIMI is believed to have received substantial financial support from international Islamic organizations, including the World Assembly of Muslim Youth based in Riyadh and the International Islamic Federation of Students' Organizations in Kuwait. Additional funding is reportedly sourced from contacts in Pakistan.
The Chicago-based Consultative Committee of Indian Muslims is also said to have provided both moral and financial backing to the group, according to South Asian Terrorism Portal.
By late 2000, SIMI members were reportedly undergoing arms and ideological training alongside Hizbul Mujahideen operatives in Jammu and Kashmir. Notably, three individuals from Jalgaon in Maharashtra—Sheikh Asif Supdu, Sheikh Khalid Iqbal, and Sheikh Mohammad Hanif—are believed to have been killed in encounters with Indian security forces near Kishtwar in J&K.
SIMI is currently perceived to have a nationwide footprint, with a particularly strong presence in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra (notably in Aurangabad, Malegaon, Jalgaon, and Thane), Andhra Pradesh, and Assam, South Asian Terrorism Portal’s website states.
When was it banned?
It was first declared an unlawful association in 2001 during the Vajpayee administration and has remained banned since, with the government renewing the proscription at regular intervals.
Most recently, on July 14, 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the latest five-year extension of the ban. A judicial tribunal, constituted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, had upheld the Centre’s decision made earlier on January 29, 2024. Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta presided over the matter and declined to interfere with the tribunal’s July 2024 ruling.
The Ministry of Home Affairs posted on X, “The SIMI has been found involved in fomenting terrorism, disturbing peace and communal harmony to threaten the sovereignty, security and integrity of Bharat.” To support the extension of the ban, the Ministry of Home Affairs cited 28 specific grounds in its January 29 notification. These included 17 cases filed against former SIMI members over the past five years, as well as 11 instances of convictions secured between 2006 and 2014 for crimes committed by individuals associated with the group.
What was the 7/11 Mumbai Blasts case?
The 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case involved a series of seven coordinated bomb explosions on the city’s suburban railway network on the evening of July 11, 2006. In just 11 minutes, bombs—hidden in pressure cookers—detonated inside packed coaches as trains neared stations like Mahim, Matunga, and Bandra. The blasts killed 189 people and left over 800 injured.
Indian investigators had linked the attacks to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and members of the banned SIMI, alleging cross-border training and support.
The series of explosions began just after 6:20 PM, when a First Class coach on a Western Railway suburban train travelling from Churchgate to Borivali was torn apart by a blast between Khar and Santa Cruz stations. Within the next ten minutes, six more bombs detonated at various points along the line, including Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari–Mahim Junction, Mira Road–Bhayander, Matunga–Mahim Junction, and Borivali, targeting packed evening rush-hour trains and plunging the city into chaos.
