Sentencing of '93 blasts resumes

MUMBAI: After a month-long hiatus, the sentencing of the remaining convicts in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case is expected to resume on Tuesday, as the special Tada Judge on Monday rejected the plea to stay the sentencing.

After 76 of the total 100 convicts were sentenced, the proceedings slowed down as an application was moved before Tada Judge PD Kode to refer the case to the Supreme Court. The applicants wanted to challenge the constitutionality of the Tada’s applicability after its lapse in 1994.

However, since Kode dismissed that plea, the applicants sought stay to approach the Supreme Court. But the Court rejected the demand of stay, stating that the convicts can approach the Supreme Court after the sentencing was over, and their rights would not be prejudiced if stay was not granted.

The Court also stated that in any case Tada has been held constitutionally valid by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court. Tuesday, the Court is expected to sentence Imtiaz Ghawate — one of the planters — and Somnath Thapa, the former customs commissioner who facilitated passage of RDX and arms from Raigad coast to Mumbai prior to the blasts.

Both have been held guilty for conspiracy, but CBI has not asked for death penalty for the two, as Thapa is suffering from blood cancer while Ghawate has been diagnosed as HIV positive. Actor Sanjay Dutt too was present in the court Monday, as were the other convicts out on bail. The Judge has given no clue as to when Dutt will be sentenced.