Mumbai blasts verdict on December 12
High Court hears final arguments by both prosecution and defence lawyers
Mumbai: The verdict on the confirmation of death sentences handed out by a trial court to three accused in the Mumbai twin blasts in 2003, in which 55 people were killed and 150 others injured, is expected on December 12.
The Bombay High Court heard the final arguments yesterday.
At a special session, a High Court division bench comprising Justice A.M. Khanvilkar and Justice P.D. Kode heard the final arguments by both prosecution and defence lawyers.
The two judges also heard matters relating to two other acts of sabotage — a blast in a bus at Ghatkopar in north-east Mumbai on July 29, 2003, in which three people were killed and 30 others injured and an unexploded blast in a bus at Jogeshwari on December 2, 2002.
"These two cases had been clubbed together with the 2003 Mumbai twin blasts case. The judges heard all the four matters together," lawyer S. Kunjuraman, who is representing one of the three accused in the twin blasts case, said.
The two powerful bomb blasts rocked two downtown areas of the historic Gateway of India and the diamond hub of Zaveri Bazar on August 25, 2003.
The high-intensity explosives were placed in two taxis stationed at the car parking area located right next to the Gateway of India and the busy Zaveri Bazar at Kalbadevi.
After a lengthy trial, a special court on August 6, 2009, sentenced three accused, Ashrath Shafique Ansari, 32; Mohammad Haneef Saeed, 46; and his wife Fahmeeda, 43, to death.
Ten days prior to their being awarded capital punishment, the special court held the trio guilty of planting explosives.
Of the total of seven people arrested in the case, two of the accused — Mohammad Ansari Ladoowala and Mohammad Hassan Batterywalla — were acquitted midway through the trial, after the Supreme Court upheld a State Pota (Prevention of Terrorism Act) review committee recommendation that no case had been made out against them.
A 16-year-old daughter of Mohammad Saeed, who was also allegedly involved in the case, was acquitted after the prosecution decided not to press charges against her on the grounds that she was a "minor".
