Abu Salem, four others as guilty as Yakub: CBI

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday in its arguments in the 1993 blasts case pointed out the Supreme Court’s July 2015 judgment on Yakub Memon, arguing that the severity of crimes in the two cases were similar and deserving of death penalty.

The CBI was arguing in the special TADA court on the quantum of punishment for six accused in the case, including Abu Salem. The court on February 16 had convicted six of the seven accused in the 1993 blasts case. Of the six, convict Riyaz Siddhique was held guilty under TADA charges, while other were held guilty under conspiracy charges as well as TADA.

Meanwhile, the accused pleaded the court to instruct the jail authorities to allow sweets and new clothes in the jail on the occasion of Eid, which will be celebrated on Monday. The court has accepted their request.

CBI senior counsel, advocate Deepak Salvi, while reading out the relevant parts of the apex court judgement in Memon’s case said that Yakub Memon’s punishment would assist the court in awarding punishment to the convicts. Memon, the younger brother of absconding accused Tiger Memon, had acted on the directions of his brother and had planted RDX on the designated spots where the blasts took place and resulted in the death of 257 innocent people and left around 713 injured.

“Ultimately it becomes the duty of the courts to award proper sentence, having regard to the nature of the offence and the manner in which it was executed or committed, etc. The court should impose a punishment befitting the crime so that the courts are able to accurately reflect public abhorrence of the crime. It is the nature and the gravity of the crime, and not the criminal, which are germane for consideration of appropriate punishment in a criminal trial. Imposition of sentence without considering its effects on social order, in many cases, may be in reality, a futile exercise,” read Mr Salvi.

Advocate Salvi further read, “The survival of an orderly society demands the extinction of the life of a person who is proved to be a menace to the social order and society. Thus, the courts for the purpose of deciding just and appropriate sentence to be awarded for an offence have to delicately balance the aggravating and mitigating factors.