The special MCOCA court yesterday passed the death sentence for the five convicts who had planted the bombs on the trains, while sentencing the remaining seven convicts to life imprisonment
Nine years after the 11/7 serial train blasts killed 188 and injured over 800, justice was finally served, as the special MCOCA court yesterday sentenced the five bomb planters to death, reserving life imprisonment for the remaining seven terrorists convicted in the case.
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One of the convicts looks for his relatives from the police van on his way to court on Wednesday. The accused had not been allowed to meet their families since their conviction, but they caught a glimpse of their loved ones outside the courthouse yesterday. Pic/AFP
The sentencing took place around noon, and calling the convicts in quick succession, Judge Yatin D Shinde pronounced the sentences within ten minutes. He first called out the names of five planters — Ehtesham Siddiqui, Asif Khan, Mohammad Faisal Shaikh, Naveed Khan and Kamal Ahamed Ansari – who were handed the death sentence.
Then he called out the names of the other seven (Dr Tanvir Ahmed Ansari, Shaikh Alam Shaikh, Mohammad Sajid Ansari, Mohammad Majid Shafi, Muzzammil Shaikh, Soheil Mehmood Shaikh and Zamir Ahmad Shaikh) and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
The accused were sentenced and fined under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Railways Act of 1989, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act of 1984, Explosives Act of 1884, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, MCOCA and the Explosive Substances Act.
None of the accused broke down, and neither did they express hopelessness as they told mid-day that they had expected the same result and that they would contest it in the High Court. After the sentencing, the accused were brought out of the courthouse and made to stand in a block outside.
Here, they could not only speak to their lawyers, but could also see their family members standing in the building opposite. As the accused had not been allowed to meet their families since their conviction, they used this opportunity to communicate with their loved ones through gestures.
The 12 convicts were present outside the courthouse till evening, as they finished the required procedures. The defence requested for a copy of the judgment, which the judge said he would provide soon. The defence then asked that the convicts not be moved out of Arthur Road Jail until the judgment copy was handed over, and the judge replied in the affirmative.
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