Twenty years after the country’s financial capital was rocked by a series of bombings in a single day, the Supreme Court will on Thursday pronounce its judgment in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case in which 100 people, including Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, were convicted by a TADA court which awarded death penalty to 12 convicts and life sentence to 20. A string of 13 coordinated explosions had shattered Mumbai on March 12, 1993, killing 257 people while over 700 others were injured. The blasts had occurred at 12 places including Bombay Stock Exchange building, Air-India Building at Nariman Point, at Worli opposite Century Bazaar, Hotels Sea Rock and Juhu Centaur. Property worth Rs. 28 crore was destroyed in the explosions in which RDX was used for the first time in the country. Underworld gangsters Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and his brother Ayub Memon were alleged to be the main conspirators of the blasts and they were declared proclaimed offenders. The verdict, to be pronounced by a bench of justices P. Sathasivam and B.S. Chauhan, will also decide the fate of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt who had challenged his conviction and six years imprisonment awarded to him for being in illegal possession of arms under the Arms Act. The actor was convicted in November 2006 for illegal possession of a 9mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle but was acquitted of more serious charges of criminal conspiracy under the now defunct stringent anti-terror law Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA). Dutt, who spent 18 months behind bars during the trial, will have to undergo the remaining term if the apex court upholds the TADA court’s verdict. Mohammed Iqbal, who got death sentence, died during the pendency of case in the apex court. Of the 20 who were given life sentence, former customs officer S.N. Thapa died while two got bail. Seventeen are serving life sentence in jail along with 11 death convicts. Most of the 100 convicts filed appeals in the Supreme Court.
