Mumbai, July 24
The special court set up under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act to hear the 1993 Mumbai blasts cases today sentenced three more persons to death while another was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Judge Pramod Kode of the TADA court today passed the death sentence on Zakir Hussain Shaikh, Feroz Mallik and Abdul Akhtar Khan for being part of the conspiracy to carry out the blasts and for undergoing weapons training in Pakistan.
Judge Kode ruled that the conduct of the three amounted to a “terrorist act...synonymous with waging a war against the union of India”.
All four were part of the group which drove to Mahim in north central Mumbai where they hurled hand grenades at the residents of a fishermen’s colony. Three persons were killed and six were injured in the attack.
“In violence, the accused have the victim in mind but in the case of terrorism, an act of cowardice, it is not against a particular victim but society at large,” the judge said in his ruling. In all, six persons were part of the group that hurled grenades at the fishermen’s colony.
The number of persons sentenced to death in the blasts case has now risen to ten.
The fourth person, Moin Qureshi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, was spared the noose because he was a minor at the time of the incident and also because he became part of the terror conspiracy only in the final stages.Mumbai blasts
So far 91 of the 100 persons convicted in the serial blasts case have been sentenced. The sentences of the remaining nine, including actor Sanjay Dutt, who was found guilty under the Arms Act, are likely be completed this week.
