NewDelhi:Two decades after serial blasts maimed Mumbai, the Supreme Court on Thursday commuted to life term the death sentence of 10 persons convicted by the trial court for planting bombs as part of the first-ever coordinated terror attack that left 257 dead and 713 injured. The court upheld the death penalty for Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the only one among the masterminds of the horrific terrorist crime—one of the deadliest internationally and the first one involving the use of RDX—who could be tried.
Pronouncing its final verdict in the terrorist atrocity, plotted as an extension of the communal violence that broke out in Mumbai in the wake of the Babri demolition in December 1992, the SC blamed Pakistan for encouraging and helping the terrorists. In a unprecedentedly long judgment running into over 2,000 pages, a bench of Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan said that while Yakub participated in the conspiracy with Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim and deserved no leniency, the other 10, though responsible for placing explosive laden vehicles at several places, needed to be evaluated on a different plane as they belonged to the lower strata of society and were sucked into the conspiracy to be used as "arrows" by the mastermind "archers".
Of another 19 sentenced to life by the trial court, the apex court upheld the punishment for 17. Of the remaining two, the life sentence was reduced to 10 years imprisonment in one case, and to the period already served in the other.
Significantly, it allowed appeals of the Maharashtra police and enhanced the sentences of six accused to life term. The six are Uttam S Potdar, Issaq Mohd Hajwane, Sharif Abdul Gafoor, Manoj Kumar Bhanwarlal, Farooq Illiyas Motorwala and Mohd Rafiq Usman. This brought the number of those sentenced to life to 33. The court stressed that they will stay in jail for the rest of their lives.
The SC also confirmed the sentence of customs officials and policemen who facilitated the conspirators in return for bribes, and censured the Coast Guard for not being vigilant enough to block the shipments of arms and explosives that were used. Commenting on the enormity of the crime, the judges said, "This was the first-ever terror attack in the world where RDX (Research Department Explosives) was used on a large scale basis after World War II."
END OF THE
BEGINNING?
Mar 12, 1993 | 13 places in then Bombay bombed in the space of 130 minutes; 257 killed, over 700 injured
July 31, 2007 | Of 123 people tried, TADA court convicts 100; gives death to 12; life to 20, varying terms to remaining 68
March 21, 2013 | SC confirms capital punishment for Yakub Memon, an organizer; commutes it to life for 10 planters; one passed away in between. Upholds 17 life sentences, reduces two and adds six
THE CRIME ROLL
Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, brother of absconding accused Tiger Memon
The 10 planters | Zakir Hussain Shaikh, Abdul Khan, Firoz aka Akram Amani Malik, Mohd Mustaq Tarani, Asgar Yusuf Mukadam, Shahnawaz Qureshi, Mohd Shoeb Mohd Kasam Ghanasar, Abdul Gani Ismail Turk, Parvez Shaikh and Mohd Farooq Mohd Yusuf DIFFERENT YARDSTICK
Holding that "sentence should directly reflect the role of the accused in the crime", court said Yakub deserved no leniency, while the 10 others were mere "arrows" used by mastermind "archers"
STAR CROSSED
Court upheld conviction of Sanjay Dutt for possessing three AK-56 rifles and ammo which had been delivered at his Bandra residence by Abu Salem and others at the behest of Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees in 1993
It also upheld 5-year sentence to Yusuf Nulwala and ordered release of Samir Hingora, who was sentenced to 9 years in jail TOP COURT RULING'Masterminds leading comfortable lives in Pak'
However, there were doubts that the verdict would bring closure to the victims, considering that the masterminds—underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, his brother Anees Ibrahim and Yakub Memon's brother Tiger Memon—have not been brought to justice. By all indications, the three are leading comfortable lives in Pakistan.
In fact, the sense that justice had not been done may only be reinforced by what Justices Sathasivam and Chauhan said to justify the use of different approaches towards "mastermind" Yakub on the one hand, and the 10 "pawns" on the other. "The sentence should directly reflect the role of the accused in the crime," the bench said. "These 10 parked explosivesfilled vehicles in the respective destinations. However, if we lift the veil, it is actually the mastermind's strategy, which was executed by the subservient minions... We contemplate that the ends of justice would be served if the death sentence of these 10 appellants be commuted to life imprisonment."
On Yakub, the bench said, "A perusal of the above confessions by the co-conspirators would show that the appellant was playing a key role in furtherance of the conspiracy. The evidence… (shows that Yakub) played an active role in the generation and management of funds for achieving the object behind the conspiracy and in subsequent events.
"Yakub left for Dubai on 11.03.1993 with an Indian passport and entered Pakistan with a Pakistani passport. Though he was not among the persons who carried the arms and ammunition used for the blast, it was he who stood behind them from starting till the end.
"We are satisfied that the prosecution has established all the charges leveled against Yakub and the designated court rightly convicted him."
The other 10 given the death sentence were Zakir Hussain Noor Mohd Shaikh, Abdul Khan aka Yakub Khan Akhtar Khan, Firoz aka Akram Amani Malik, Mohd Mustaq Moosa Tarani, Asgar Yusuf Mukadam, Shahnawaz Abdul Kadar Qureshi, Mohd Shoeb Mohd Kasam Ghanasar, Abdul Gani Ismail Turk, Parvez Nazir Ahmed Shaikh and Mohd Farooq Mohd Yusuf.
The bench was quick to add that lesser punishment to the co-accused would not be treated as a precedent. It also clarified that life sentence meant the convict has to spend the rest of his life in prison, subject to the pardoning and remission powers of the President or state governor.
Immediately after the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim, then living in Dubai, planned a terror strike in Mumbai. Dawood sent arms and ammunition from abroad and it was received by Tiger Memon, who also sent some of the accused to Dubai and from there to Pakistan for training in the handling of arms and ammunition.
March 12, 1993 Shivaji Park
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