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Political Notes |
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Death sentences in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case
The TADA court trying the 1993 serial blasts case awarded death sentence to seven convicts last week, three each on Wednesday and Thursday, and one on Friday, July 20. The court has so far sentenced 84 of the one hundred persons convicted in the case. Apart from the seven persons who have been sentenced to death, 16 have to serve life terms.
On July 18, three men were handed down death sentences, the first such punishment awarded by the special court. The court said their actions caused the death of innocent people and brought disgrace to Muslims. Abdul Ghani Ismail Turk, Mohammad Moshtaq Musa Tarani and Pervez Ahmed Nasir Shaikh were found guilty of planting bombs that killed nearly 100 people. Announcing their sentences, Judge P.D. Kode said none of them was directly affected by the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya and subsequent riots in Mumbai - points cited by the defence as the conspirators’ justification for the 12 blasts on March 12, 1993, that killed 257 people.
On July 19, three more conspirators - Ashgar Hussain Mukadam, Shahnawaz Querishi and Mohammad Shoaib Ghansar - working for absconding serial blasts mastermind Tiger Memon were sentenced to death.
Mukadam had been the finance manager of Memon and was responsible for funding the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. He with his cousin Shahnawaz Querishi parked a Maruti van carrying RDX outside the Plaza Cinema owned by late V Shantaram in Dadar. The explosion killed 11 people. Ghansar was assigned the terrorist attack at Zaveri Bazaar where he left a scooter laden with RDX which went off killing 17 people and injured 57.
There was an argument in the court over the death penalty awarded to Mukadam. His counsel Farzana Shah said Mukadam was “just an employee” of Tiger Memon and was not aware about the van packed with RDX. Nor was he involved in the conspiracy.
The judge dismissed the contention and said it was established by the prosecution that he was actively involved in the plot and its execution and pronounced death sentence to Mukadam under TADA Act and Section 120 (B) relating to conspiracy in the Indian Penal Code. Querishi was trained in Pakistan and has cases pending under the Narcotics Act.
On July 20, a convict in the 1993 serial blasts case escaped capital punishment when Special Judge Kode gave him and another convict life terms and sentenced a third to death. Mohd. Iqbal Sheikh got the capital punishment for planting an RDX-laden scooter at Naigaum. The bomb did not explode. He was also charged with conspiring and piloting another convict.
The court is yet to decide the fate of some more convicts including actor Sanjay Dutt and his three friends who form a separate group seeking pardon under the Probation of Offenders Act. Sanjay Dutt’s case is expected to come up in the court on Friday, July 27.
Sharad Pawar denies allegations on wheat imports
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has described as baseless the allegations by the BJP on wheat imports. Speaking to journalists in New Delhi on July 16, he said the Government took a conscious decision to import wheat this year to build up stocks for the targeted public distribution system. Pawar said the first import order was cancelled as domestic procurement was on and global prices were high. In the first tender, suppliers were ready to offer only three lakh tonnes at the agreed price as against the requirement of ten lakh tonnes. The Minister said following India’s rejection of the first tender, the wheat prices rose suddenly after the US Department of Agriculture projected lower global wheat output. This was the reason why the subsequent wheat order was at a higher cost.
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