Mumbai Blast Case

Mumbai blast cases


Eleven TADA court convicts cannot appeal to Supreme Court to review their sentence as they cannot afford it.


Out of the 12 convicts sentenced to death by the TADA court in the 1993 serial blasts case only convict Yakub Memon, the brother of prime conspirator Tiger Memon has appealed to the Supreme Court to review his sentence before the end of this year. Reason? Nobody else can afford it.


The TADA court finished sentencing all 100 convicts in July 2007. In August, over two dozen convicts — including actor Sanjay Dutt — appealed before the apex court. On November 27, Dutt and 16 were granted bail. Currently, there are 28 TADA convicts who have filed an appeal and Yakub is the only one among them facing a death sentence.


Of the 11 others, Mohammad Iqbal Shaikh died of tuberculosis last month. Farhana Shah, defence lawyer for the remaining 10 convicts, said, “We hope to appeal in January, after making thorough preparations. Unlike Yakub, these 10 are not financially well-off. So we will have to deal with their financial difficulties before appealing.” Filing an appeal at the SC costs a minimum of Rs. 2 lakh.


Shah added that she would apologize for the delay, citing reasons like financial constraints in their SC appeals. Legal experts say that the TADA court, in its elaborate 4,340-page judgement, had discarded most of the defence arguments, debates over the serious charge of conspiracy, and several other points raised during cross-examination. Senior counsel Subhash Kanse said, “Some of these dismissed points are actually valuable, and would have to be explored better to make a strong ground for SC appeal.”


Farhana Shah has the distinction of being the only woman lawyer in the 1993 serial blasts case. And, that is not her only achievement. She represents the maximum number of accused - 80, including Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt - and has been attending the court on a daily basis. Such has been her consistency in pursuing the case, that the TADA court asked her to be amicus curae or friend of the court.


The Bombay blast case was high profile, with many advocates making lots of money. But Farhana was amongst the few, who represented the maximum number of accused, most for free. “This case is a mission for me. If money were the sole criteria, I would have never taken the brief of those accused who did not have enough money even to buy stamp paper. Many of them cannot even afford the cost of travelling to court. Only three or four have paid me for the services,” she said. “I have taken their brief only because I have seen accused families undergoing hell and suffering mental trauma. Innocent wives and children of the accused are facing socio and economic depredation.”

Leading Iraqi Shiite religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has renewed his call for an end to sectarian violence in the country and for Sunni and Shia Muslims to unite. Sistani’s calls for peace and unity came during a meeting with a delegation from Sunni clerics from southern and northern Iraq in the Shiite city of Najaf in a bid to stem violence in the war-torn country. The clerics gathered in Najaf to participate in the first national conference for Ulemaa of Shiites and Sunnis. The meeting was sponsored by the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Iraq’s most influential Shia party.


It may be recalled that sucide bombers from the two side have been targetting each others locality and places of worship killing thousands of people in the US occupied Iraq during the last two years. However this seems to be the handy work of certain forces who are playing to the tune of forein powers.


Nearly 25 per cent of Iraqi couples are locked in Shia-Sunni marriages. Iraq is multi-ethnic society with 60 per cent of population being Shias.