COVER STORY
India’s bloated system of justice has a silent, devastated majority: the undertrials
Outlook Magazine - Guilty Until Proven Innocent - 11 August 2025 Issue on Mumbai 2006 Train Blast
For nearly 19 years, twelve men, accused of engineering one of the deadliest terror attacks in India’s history, the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts, were behind bars. They were branded as terrorists, and quietly erased from public sympathy. The Bombay High Court overturned their convictions, citing a collapse of credible evidence and grave flaws in the investigation. But what do you do with freedom when you've already served a life sentence for a crime you didn't commit? Outlook Magazine’s latest issue, “Guilty Until Proven Innocent”, looks at the 19 years lost of those who were in jail and those who thought justice was served, until it wasn’t. Jinit Parmar and Pritha Vashisth sit down with the men who are finally breathing the air of freedom. The reporters also look at the other side, survivors and victims,who continue to live with deep, unhealed wounds. Avantika Mehta investigates how justice systems across the world fail undertrials. Pragya Singh takes a hard look at the ethical lapses and policing practices surrounding the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts investigation. Read these and more in Outlook's latest issue.
-
The acquittal in the Mumbai blasts case shows that no amount of compensation can make up for the losses incurred. But courts must award compensation for wrongful prosecution.
The night Mumbai bled and the wronged men who bled longer
Denied the fixing of accountability for what befell them, survivors and kin of the slain in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts find their old wounds reopened after the recent acquittals
Last week—almost two decades later—the Bombay High Court acquitted them all. The judges ruled that the evidence against them was unreliable, contradictory and, in many cases, fabricated. At that moment, justice stood exposed—not because it had been delivered, but because it had long been denied.
There is a lack of a mechanism to punish police personnel who commit atrocities against citizens through legal violence.
As top global universities rush to set up shop in India, it’s time to ask: Are they here to uplift Indian education - or rescue their own fortunes?
From admission to academic endurance in India’s most prestigious universities, the intense competition puts overwhelming pressure on young minds. What are the challenges and safeguards in place for our student's mental health?
Are you looking for the best State Public Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 75 State Public Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
Are you looking for the best State Private Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 50 State Private Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
The acquittal in the Mumbai blasts case shows that no amount of compensation can make up for the losses incurred. But courts must award compensation for wrongful prosecution.
-
The night Mumbai bled and the wronged men who bled longer
-
Denied the fixing of accountability for what befell them, survivors and kin of the slain in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts find their old wounds reopened after the recent acquittals
-
Last week—almost two decades later—the Bombay High Court acquitted them all. The judges ruled that the evidence against them was unreliable, contradictory and, in many cases, fabricated. At that moment, justice stood exposed—not because it had been delivered, but because it had long been denied.
-
There is a lack of a mechanism to punish police personnel who commit atrocities against citizens through legal violence.
-
As top global universities rush to set up shop in India, it’s time to ask: Are they here to uplift Indian education - or rescue their own fortunes?
-
From admission to academic endurance in India’s most prestigious universities, the intense competition puts overwhelming pressure on young minds. What are the challenges and safeguards in place for our student's mental health?
-
Are you looking for the best State Public Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 75 State Public Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best State Private Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 50 State Private Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
OTHER STORIES
-
Are you looking for the best Emerging State Private Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 10 Emerging State Private Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Multi‑Faculty Private State Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 10 Multi‑Faculty Private State Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Central Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 20 Central Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 25 Multi-Disciplinary Deemed to be Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 15 Deemed to be Universities Of National Eminence for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Practice‑Integrated Multi‑Disciplinary Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 10 Practice‑Integrated Multi‑Disciplinary Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 10 Liberal & Trans‑Disciplinary Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Government Technical Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 15 Government Technical Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Private Technical Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 15 Private Technical Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Emerging Private Technical Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 5 Emerging Private Technical Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Government Medical Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 15 Government Medical Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Private Medical Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 15 Private Medical Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Music Institutions in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 25 Music Institutions for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Skill Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 15 Skill Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Veterinary Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 10 Veterinary Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Fisheries Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 10 Fisheries Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
Are you looking for the best Maritime Universities in India? Check out Outlook-ICARE's annual ranking of India’s top 10 Maritime Universities for 2025 to make an informed choice based on multiple parameters.
-
The Indian cemetery in Gaza and the Indian government’s silence on the genocide
-
The Dhankhar earthquake shows why the institution of political journalism stands diminished
-
A year after the Citizenship Amendment Act, citizenship screening still scares Bengali Hindus, as evident from the panic over the ‘anti-migrant drive’ and voter list revision
-
More than 300 Bengali-speaking Muslims from Assam were forced to go to Bangladesh in the past couple of weeks. The state calls them illegal immigrants. But are they?
-
The Valley is wary of Hindi and non-Kashmiri indigenous languages such as Dogri of Jammu, even as the Bharatiya Janata Party pushes for both, against the official dominance of Urdu
-
The new NCERT history textbook is undermining multiplicity and criticality, dispelling any possibility of dialogue, debate, or discussion
-
In defiance of the Western gaze and the dominance of Euro-American institutions, the Bihar Museum Biennale creates space for museums of the Global South to lead the cultural conversation
-
Ratan Thiyam, who died on July 23, made invaluable contributions to the world of theatre. We share excerpts from an interview he gave to the Seagull Theatre Quarterly team in April 1996
-
Strange moving lights, the churail’s scream from a deserted village, unseen terror ... Jim Corbett did not encounter man-eaters alone; he also had a faceoff with ghosts and supernatural powers
