Thane 2015 riot case: Ten years on, courtroom acquits all 17 accused

A Thane courtroom has acquitted all 17 accused in a 2015 rioting case wherein police personnel have been injured and public property was broken in Thane, Maharashtra, citing “total failure of identification” and severe investigative lapses.

“The prosecution’s proof was inadequate to show the guilt of the accused past an affordable doubt,” Additional Sessions Judge Vasudha L. Bhosale mentioned within the judgment on September 8, 2025 a duplicate of which was made accessible on Sunday (September 14, 2025.)

The incident passed off on January 2, 2015, when a mob gathered at Diva railway station in Maharashtra’s Thane district. According to the prosecution, the group, armed with weapons, broken public property and assaulted law enforcement officials who have been attempting to manage the scenario.

A First Information Report (FIR) was filed, resulting in the arrest of 19 individuals. Two of the accused, Santosh Pandurang Sakpal and Bintu Mahavir Chauhan, handed away through the trial.

“Every prosecution witness, police officer injured or retired officer evidence followed the same pattern strong cross-examination but fatal admission in chief examination of video recording. This creates systemic evidentiary defect,” the choose mentioned.

“Not a single witness identified a specific accused with a specific over tact. All testimonies are omnibus, directed against ‘anonymous mob’ in order to make the accused criminally liable, law requires individual responsibilities. Every prosecution witness is a police officer. The prosecution has not examined any commuter, shopkeeper, or railway staff,” the courtroom mentioned.

The choose famous the police witnesses’ testimonies have been closely reliant on video recordings, which have been deemed inadmissible. “The panchnama prepared by the prosecution appears to be defective, also the property valuation was not done by the experts. There is no explanation regarding delay in FIR,” the courtroom mentioned.

The medical proof offered was additionally discovered to be missing, with the injured police officer’s report displaying solely easy accidents, which the medical officer admitted may have been attributable to a fall.

The courtroom concluded that the prosecution didn’t show the formation of an illegal meeting with a typical goal.

“The allegations of stone-pelting weren’t corroborated by medical studies or unbiased witnesses, and the costs of mischief and injury to public property have been additionally not confirmed with correct valuation studies or knowledgeable proof,” it noticed.

“There is total failure of identification, absence of medical and independent evidence and serious investigating lapses,” the courtroom mentioned. It acquitted the 17 accused, within the age group of 38 to 56, of all expenses in opposition to them.