Judicial Precedent Created in The 1993 Mumbai Serial Bomb Blasts' Case Verdict.
Just two months after the bomb blasts
in the Mumbai local train stations, and a week after the blasts at Malegaon, the first ‘instalment’ of the verdict in the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai was
announced on the 12th of September 2006. Judge Kode divided the 123
accused into batches of 8 in the order in which their names appear in the chargesheet, for pronouncing the verdict. The main accused – Tiger Memon, and the underworld don – Dawood Ibrahim, are absconding. Three of Tiger Memon’s brothers, and the wife of a fourth brother (Rubeena) have been pronounced guilty. Rubeena’s husband – Suleman , Rahin – wife of one of the brothers, and the Mother of Tiger Memon have been declared ‘not guilty’.
After pronouncing the verdict, the judge will now hear the arguments of the prosecution and defence before deciding the actual sentence. Only then will he go on to the next batch of accused. This novel 'batch' method is being employed in what has been the longest criminal trial in India, as this is the only way to deal with such a large number of accused.
Yakub Memon, one of the guilty, was visibly upset when the verdict was announced, and shouted at the judge, “You will make us all into terrorists. He (Tiger Memon ) was right. We cannot expect justice here.”
Meanwhile the survivors, and relatives of the blast victims were unhappy but resigned to the fact that the courts had taken 13 years in delivering the verdict, and that too in a piecemeal manner. They compared it to the 15 months taken by US courts in delivering the first verdict in the 9/11 episode.
Actor Sanjay Dutt, one of the accused in the case, is the 117th accused, and the verdict on him will take more than a month to be announced.