Mumbai blasts of 1993 fell in rarest of rare category: court

Bomb explosions can not be compared to any other crime, the TADA court observed while sentencing gangster Abu Salem and four others in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
The case fell in the "rarest of rare" category and it was not an ordinary crime, judge G A Sanap said yesterday.
"The accused involved in causing the blasts rejoiced (at) the success of the conspiracy and the brutal, diabolical and depraved crime committed by them," said the court.
"The perpetrators of the crime committed it in the most cruel and inhuman manner, which is extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical and revolting. The loss of life and damage caused in the blast denoted its enormity," it said.

Blasts shook the confidence of the law abiding citizens of the city, and in such incidents "death is better than survival" with grave injuries and permanent disability (for the victims), it noted.
"One can visualise the plight and pathetic conditions of the injured who have been left disabled....Sufferings of the injured and disabled victims are unimaginable," it said.

There was "a sort of competition" between the Dossa brothers (absconding accused Mohammed Dossa and his brother Mustafa Dossa, who died a few days after conviction, and the absconding mastermind Tiger Memon in smuggling arms, ammunition and RDX into India, the judge observed.

The smuggling of arms, ammunition and explosives on this scale was unprecedented, said the court.
The court sentenced two accused to death, one to ten years in prison and two others, including Abu Salem, to life imprisonment in the second phase of the trial yesterday, 24 years after the blasts claimed 257 lives in the financial capital of India.