Mixed reaction for the judgement
If it was a judgment designed to please everyone, some sections of the public were not enthused by it.Coming as it did on an ‘auspicious day’, the sentences pronounced for 35 of the 70 accused at the Special Court for Bomb Blasts Cases here on Wednesday, found them guilty of serious charges in the 1998 serial blasts. This did not go down well with both the Muslim and the Hindu outfits.A Abuthahir, vice-chairperson, Charitable Trust for Minorities, said, “The judgment is like rubbing salt into the wounds of those who have already spent 10 years in prison, which is punishment enough. It is said that they may be shifted to other prisons after the judgment.” Some of the prisoners had made a representation in the court requesting the authorities not to shift them while others had sought a transfer.Defence counsel P Thirumalairajan said, “Since we are going for an appeal, I have requested the judge not to disband them from this court.”This representation would reportedly be forwarded to the Superintendent of the Prison.“There is no question of being happy or sad about the judgment. As far as we are concerned, this is a fit case for acquittal. So we will prefer an appeal,” Thirumalairajan added.On the other hand, Arjun Sampath, a member of the Hindu Makkal Katchi, said that the sentence was unfair to the families of those who had lost their lives in the blasts.“The efforts of the Special Investigation Team and all the expenditures for the Special Court will go waste if the government fails to appeal against this judgment,” he said.BJP leader C P Radhakrishnan said that the judgment placed no value on human lives. “It also creates an impression that any cruel activity will go unpunished, if it is not stringent enough for the gravity of the crime committed.Thus, a psychological situation is created wherein extremist elements will assume they can get away with anything,” he pointed out. The judgment had also pointed to the need for the revival of a strong law like the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), 2002 to fight terror, he added.
