By IANS,
Mumbai : The Bombay High Court Friday upheld the death sentence of three people, including a woman, convicted for the 2003 Mumbai twin-bomb blasts that killed 52 people.
A division bench of Justice A.M. Khanvilkar and Justice P.D. Kode upheld the verdict of the special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court here.
The POTA court had in August 2009 awarded capital punishment to Ashrat Ansari, Hanif Sayed Anees and his wife Fehmida Sayed, holding them guilty of planting powerful bombs in two taxis that exploded at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar in south Mumbai Aug 25, 2003, killing 52 people.
The high court upheld the death sentence awarded to them on all three counts of perpetrating terror, criminal conspiracy and murder.
The prosecution had said that the trio belonged to the Lashkar-e-Taiba and had planned and carried out the blasts.
It was for the first time that the LeT had used a family (Hanif and Fehmida) to carry out bomb blasts in the country.
The division bench, however, partially modified the order of the POTA court which discharged two other accused on the basis of a report of the POTA review committee.
According to the bench, the two – Mohammed Hasan Batterywala and Mohammed Ansari Ladoowala – will now have to face trial, but only under Indian Penal Code charges and not under provisions of the POTA.
The bench stayed the death sentence for eight weeks to allow the convicts to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.
The court had on Nov 12, 2011, reserved its judgment on confirmation of death sentence to the three after arguments concluded at a special hearing. On Dec 12, the court had deferred its verdict again.
At least 103 witnesses were examined during the trial. One accused had turned approver, two others were discharged and another died during the trial. The LeT’s role in the twin blasts was revealed by an accused-turned-approver, who was given a pardon by the court.
In another case, the POTA court held the trio guilty of also causing a blast in a city bus in Ghatkopar in central Mumbai July 28, 2003, that had claimed two lives.