98 Bomb blast case-41 sentenced
The special court here today sentenced 41 of 168 persons convicted in the Coimbatore serial blasts case to prison terms varying from three years to nine years. But the sentences have been set off against the period of more than nine years they have already spent in jail as undertrials.The Special Court Judge K Uthirapathy who commenced the pronouncement of sentences formally recorded the acquital of Madhani, the leader of Kerala-based People’s Democratic Party, and seven others—Army Raju, Subair, Naushad, Sardar, Mohammed Ashraf, Sivakumar and Sivakumar alias Akoji since the charges against them were earlier pronounced by the court as ‘not proved.’The judge, who started pronouncing sentences for the 88 accused against whom minor charges were proved, completed delivering sentences for 41 of them when the court wound up proceedings for the day.The charges against the convicted persons include promoting commmunal hatred, unlawful assembly with deadly weapons, attempt to murder and manufacture and possession of explosives. They were awarded sentences of three years rigorous imprisonment for charges like promoting communal hatred, while for charges like possession of explosive substances a maximum of nine years rigorous imprisonment was awarded, all sentences to run concurrently.Though the judge posted the next hearing for October 3, the pronouncement on sentences will resume only on October 8.Of the 168 persons convicted in the case, serious charges including that of conspiracy were proved against 70, including S A Basha, the leader of the banned outfit Al-Umma. The pronouncement of their sentences is expected on a later date.Meanwhile, the prosecution, according to sources, may go on appeal against the acquittal of Madhani and seven others in the High court after getting a copy of the judgement.
