Three get death for Gateway, Zaveri Bazar blasts

The 2003 Mumbai blasts case has been taken to a logical end when the court awarded capital punishment to the accused. Well its a 6 year ordeal for the victims and they are vindicated and the victims that lost lives shall atleast lay in peace. TOI

MUMBAI: Two of the three terrorists sentenced to death on Wednesday for the 2003 Mumbai blasts became the second couple to be marked for the
gallows after Sriharan alias Murugan and Nalini were given the rarest of the rare sentence for Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.

Fahima Syed and her husband Hanif Syed were given death along with Ashrat Ansari for cold-bloodedly planting bombs that killed 52 innocents at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazar on August 25, 2003.

The first thought Fehmida Syed had on being sentenced to death - along with Hanif - was of her children. ``My children will be orphaned,'' she said in tears.

Hanif (52), who had flashed a `victory' sign on conviction last week, wore a sombre look as judge M R Puranik read out a terse one-line pronouncement, ``To he hanged by the neck till death.'' Later, when he was being led away, Hanif blamed the prosecution for the harsh sentence he had received. On Tuesday, he had pleaded for mercy, saying that his crime had been an emotional reaction to the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.

Ashrat Ansari (38) remained deadpan and merely remarked that justice was blind.

Fehmida (49) is also the second woman to be given the death sentence for a terror act after Nalini, the co-conspirator in Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991. Nalini, whose sentence was commuted to life, is currently in jail awaiting the outcome of her mercy petition. Murugan remains on death row.

The Pota court on Thursday rejected all pleas of leniency and held that the brazen terror attack fell under the ``rarest of rare'' category of cases where the death sentence was well deserved.

Relatives of several blast victims were present outside the court premises and welcomed the decision that came six years after the attack. ``The punishment will send out a strong message to terrorists,'' said special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. The defence advocates, however, indicated that they would appeal against the sentence.

Hanif, who planted the bomb that killed 16 people at the Gateway, used to be an autorickshaw driver from Andheri who was brainwashed in Dubai by Pakistani nationals to carry out the blasts, purportedly to avenge the communal riots in Gujarat. His wife, Fehmida, was proven by the prosecution to be a close aide and conspirator who chose the attack targets. Ansari, a former `zari' worker, was Hanif's friend who planted the bomb that killed 36 persons at Zaveri Bazar.

Initially, there were five accused on trial, but two of these - Hassan Batterywala and Rizwan Ladoowala - were discharged from the case by the Supreme Court in 2008 in keeping with the recommendations of the POTA review committee.

In his 389-page order, Judge Puranik said that the confessional statements given by the convicts were ``reliable'' as was the testimony of Shivnarain Pandey, a taxi driver. The bomb at the Gateway was planted in Pandey's cab, but Pandey himself escaped death due to sheer providence and later became the star witness who identified Hanif and Fehmida in court.

Hanif, Fehmida and Ansari, who said they had acted ``emotionally'' in response to the Gujarat communal riots, had pleaded to be spared the death sentence. However, Nikam showed the court that they had, in fact, acted in cold blood and planned their attacks well. ``When a gelatin blast at Ghatkopar in July 28, 2003, claimed just two lives, they decided to use RDX to take a heavier toll in the twin blasts a month later,'' he said. ``They enjoyed the act of killing and deserve no mercy.''