Day of Sentences Death & Life
New Delhi/ Mumbai: Wednesday 30th September 2015 was the day of
important Judgments related Bomb Blast cases that rocked Mumbai and Jammu.
While The Supreme Court sentenced Pakistani
national Ghulam Nabi Guide to life in prison for engineering three bomb blasts
on January 26, 1995, at the Maulana Azad Memorial Stadium in Jammu , Special
Court in Mumbai awarded death penalty for 5 people and life in prison to 7
others for the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai trains.
Mumbai
Report: A special court awarded the death penalty to five people and
life in prison to seven others, all convicted for the July 11, 2006, serial
blasts on Mumbai's suburban trains which killed 189 people, in one of the worst
attacks on the city's crowded public transport system.
On September 11, Special Maharashtra
Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Judge Y.D. Shinde found all the 12
people guilty of their role in serial blasts in the suburban trains, which also
injured 817 commuters rushing home during the peak hours that rainy evening.
Those awarded the death penalty were
Kamal A. Ansari, 37; Ehtesham K. Siddiqui, 30; Faisal Attaur Rehman Sheikh, 36;
Asif Khan alias Junaid, 38; Naved Hussain Khan, 30.
The seven who were awarded life term in
jail were medico Tanvir A. Ansari, 37; Mohammed Sajid Ansari, 34; Sheikh
Mohammed Ali Alam Sheikh, 40; Mohammed Majid Shafi, 30; Muzammil Sheikh, 27;
Soheil Mohammed Sheikh, 43; and Zamir Ahmed Sheikh, 36.
During
the prolonged arguments of nearly three weeks on the quantum of sentence,
Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakre demanded death penalty for eight of the
12 convicts, terming them "merchants of death".
A teacher, Abdul Wahid Sheikh, was the lone accused who was
acquitted in the case, while another prime accused, Azam Chima, alleged to be
linked with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), is among the 17 who are missing and on
the run. They include 13 Pakistani nationals.
Stunned by the punishment, relatives of the convicts who
were awarded death sentence, said they would challenge the court verdict in the
Bombay High Court.
Special Judge Shinde found that M. Faisal Attaur Rehman
Shaikh, who was awarded death penalty, went to Pakistan twice for training.
He also sent youth to Pakistan for training, harboured
Pakistanis at his home, and received money by the hawala route.
Similarly, Kamal A. Ansari was also trained in Pakistan,
transported Pakistanis from the Nepal border to Mumbai, procured explosive
material and planted the bomb which exploded in the suburban train at Matunga.
Naved Hussain Khan surveyed the trains, transported a bomb
from Govandi to Bandra, planted one bomb on the train which exploded at Khar
station.
Asif Khan alias Junaid procured the explosive material used
to make the bomb, and planted one which exploded in the train at Borivali.
Ehtesham K. Siddiqui, the Maharashtra joint secretary of
banned orgainsation SIMI, recced local trains, transported Pakistanis to Mumbra
in Thane district, was present when the bombs were made at a house in Govandi,
and planted the bomb which exploded in the train at Mira Road.
Five among the seven convicts awarded life sentence were
trained in Pakistan, while Mohammed Majid Shafi helped transport Pakistanis
from Bangladesh border to Mumbai and then back to Bangladesh after the terror
blasts.
Mohammed Sajid Ansari provided the electrical circuits for
the bombs which went off with precision at the intended targets that evening.
Earlier, during the arguments, Thakre had demanded death
penalty for eight convicts -- Kamal A. Ansari, medico Tanvir A. Ansari,
Mohammed Sajid Ansari, Sheikh Mohammed Ali Alam Sheikh, Mohammed Faisal Sheikh,
Ehteshan Siddiqui, Asif Khan alias Junaid, and Naved Hussain Khan.
He sought life terms for Mohammed Majid Shafi, Muzammil
Sheikh, Soheil Mohammed Sheikh, Zamir Ahmed Sheikh, arguing that they were
guilty of offences which attract multiple life imprisonments, so they should be
sentenced to life till the end of the lives in jail, or not less than 60 years.
Arguing for stringent punishment to all the convicts, Thakre
said the evening peak hour timings chosen and the targets (packed suburban
trains) on the Churchgate-Virar section showed their extreme mentality as it
would inflict maximum casualties.
The trial continued for eight years in which the prosecution
examined 192 witnesses, including policemen, civil servants, medicos, officials
of various government departments, commuters, survivors and a person summoned
as a court witness, with their deposition running into over 5,500 pages.
Starting at 6.23 p.m., the seven powerful RDX-laden bombs
ripped off trains at Matunga Road, Mahim, Bandra, Khar Road, Jogeshwari,
Borivali and Mira Road stations spanning Mumbai and Thane districts.
The explosions, using around 15-20 kg of RDX, were so
powerful that they blew off the double-layered steel roofs and walls of the
seven train compartments.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad had claimed that the suspects
belong to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), LeT and the banned
Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
The trial started in June 2007, but was stayed in February
2008 after one of the 13 accused, Kamal Ansari, challenged the phrase
'promoting insurgency' in defining organised crime in the MCOCA as
"unconstitutional".
In April 2010, the Supreme Court dismissed his petition,
which paved the way for the trial to resume and complete this month.
Life in jail for Pakistani for 1995 Jammu blasts
New Delhi Report: The
Supreme Court sentenced Pakistani national Ghulam Nabi Guide to life in prison
for engineering three bomb blasts on January 26, 1995, at the Maulana Azad
Memorial Stadium in Jammu in which eight people were killed and 18 seriously
injured.
The bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and
Justice U.U. Lalit pronounced the sentence after holding Ghulam Nabi guilty.
He was personally present on Wednesday
in pursuance to the court's July 1, 2015, direction.
The court by its July 1 judgment had
set aside the March 2, 2009, TADA court verdict in which Ghulam Nabi was
acquitted of the charges of terror along with Indian national Wasim Ahmed
Malik.
The apex court, while reversing the
TADA court verdict, convicted Ghulam Nabi but confirmed Malik's acquittal.
Awarding him imprisonment for life, the
court on Wednesday said: "We have reversed the acquittal (by the TADA
court). Apart from confession (by Ghulam Nabi), there is nothing (by way of
evidence). We can't give him maximum or consecutive sentence. We can't give
less than that sentence."
The court also declined the CBI plea to
award him three life imprisonments as he was convicted under three different
provisions of law, and that the sentences should run consecutively.
