Mumbai blasts case: 13 years later, 3 get life imprisonment

In a significant judgment aimed at giving the convicts a taste of the suffering caused to the victims and dependents of the deceased, a special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court, hearing the 2002-03 triple blasts case, on Wednesday, sentenced Muzammil Ansari, who planted the bombs, to suffer life imprisonment until death. This is the only case under the now repealed Act where a convict has been given this sentence.

Special judge PR Deshmukh, in his 351-page judgment, while sentencing Ansari to undergo imprisonment till the end of his life, said, "Offence committed and proved in the present case are grave in nature... I am of the view that to award capital punishment to Ansari in present case just falls short of the rarest of rare case. Therefore, I am not inclined to endorse the punishment of death sentence to Ansari."

Ansari has been proved guilty of planting three bombs that rocked the metropolis – at Mumbai central station, Mulund (inside a train compartment) and Vile Parle – between December 2002 and March 2003, killing 12 people and injuring over 100.

The judge further observed that if a person is hanged, within a fraction of a second his life comes to an end, and he does not realise or feel the mental, emotional and physical agony which victims of the crime or dependents of deceased suffered or suffering for their whole life undergo.

The court granted two others convicts – Farhan Khot and Dr Wahid Ansari – life imprisonment, and convict Saquib Nachan, believed to be the prime conspirator, ten years of prison. Since Nachan has already undergone the sentence, pending the conclusion of the trial, he will be released from prison.

Special public prosecutor Rohini Salian said, "A decision on whether to appeal against the sentence and conviction would be taken only after going through the entire judgment in detail." Defense counsel for Ansari, however, said they would appeal against the order in the Bombay High Court.

Ansari, while pleading for leniency in sentence, had told the court that he has been suffering mental agony for the last 13 years, behind bars. He claimed that he was falsely implicated, and that his co-workers – from the private firm in Andheri, where he worked – had deposed falsely against him. He also said that he has not been able to return anything to his parents who educated him.

Ansari, a mechanical engineer by education, also said that while in prison he helped other inmates in writing letters to their family members.

In a first, the court also directed that 75% of the fine amount will be distributed among the kin of the deceased and the victims while 25% will go the Railways as compensation towards damage caused. Accordingly, a total of Rs 9.67 lakh will be given to victims and Rs 3.22 lakh to the Railways.

The court had convicted ten accused, along with others, for conspiring, planning and executing the triple blast in 2002-03. The court also acquitted three of all charges.

Eleven commuters were killed in a blast on a Karjat-bound suburban train on March 13, 2003. Prior to that, on December 1, 2002, several persons were injured in a blast at Mumbai central station, while one died in a blast in a market in Vile Parle (East) on January 27, 2003.

Nachan, an alleged member of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), is said to be one of the prime conspirators in the case. The prosecution had clubbed the three blast cases because the conspiracy was interlinked and the accused were associated with each other.

Though the draft charges were submitted to the court in 2003, the actual charges were framed only in 2014 because convict Nachan had moved the higher court challenging the clubbing of the case and maintainability of the POTA Act. The prosecution, to bring home the guilt of the accused, examined 154 witnesses including those injured and the eyewitnesses.

Convicts sentence

Muzammil Ansari Jail till death
Farhan Khot Life sentence
Dr Wahid Ansari Life sentence
Saquib Nachan 10 years' jail
Atif Mulla 10 years' jail
Haseeb Mulla 10 years' jail
Gulam Khotal 10 years' jail
Mohammed Shaikh 2 years' jail
Noor Ansari 2 years' jail
Anwar Ali 2 years' jail