1993 Mumbai blasts: SC upholds death sentence for Yakub Memon

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld death sentence for Yakub Memon in theA 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. The apex court also commuted death sentence of 10 other convicts to life imprisonment. The Supreme CourtA commuted death sentence on the ground that the convicts were behind bars for 20 years and their economic condition was weak. However, the court said life term convicts would remain in jail till their death. The life sentence of Ashrafur Rehman Azimulla was reduced to 10 years while that of Imtiyaz Yunusmiya Ghavte to jail term already undergone The Supreme Court also said that the management and conspiracy ofA 1993 blastsA were done by Dawood Ibrahim and others in Pakistan. The accused were trained in bomb making and to handle sophisticated weapons in Pakistan, the Supreme Court said in its ruling. It also stated that Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI was also involved in the 1993 blasts. The Supreme Court asserted that the police, customs and coastal guards are also to be blamed for 1993 blasts. The training of convicts in Pakistan materialised inA 1993 blasts, the apex court added and said Yakub Memon and all the absconding accused (Dawood Ibrahim and others) were "archers" and rest of the accused were "arrows" in their hands. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Sanjay Dutt under Arms Act in the case. However it reduced Dutt's six year jail term given by TADA court to five years. The court ordered that convicts who were on bail, including Sanjay Dutt, would have to surrender within four weeks. Upholding the evidence and materials perused by the TADA court in arriving at the decision against Dutt, The Supreme Court said the circumstances and nature of offence was so serious that Dutt could not be released on probation. The court dismissed all appeals of the convicts except that of Mubina alias Baya Moosa Bhiwandiwala and that of Mulchand Sampatraj Shah.