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Justice at last

The first convictions in the Mumbai 1993 blasts case evoke conflicting reactions. On the one hand, there is palpable relief that the trial stage of the case, which involved one of the longest trials related to a terrorist attack in legal history, is coming to a close. On the other hand, the 12-year process is a sorry reminder of the indefensibly slow judicial process (caused partly by a plethora of adjournments and other procedural complications) in dealing with the deadliest terrorist attack perpetrated on Indian soil. It is true that the case was a particularly complex one, involving 189 accused (of whom 123 faced trial), 686 witnesses, and about 13,000 pages of evidentiary material. But then a special court was set up to deal exclusively with a case that was cracked wide open within days of the high-tech serial bomb explosions that killed 257 people and maimed or injured more than 700. The special judge, Pramod Kode, who held four of the seven accused belonging to Tiger Memon's family guilty of conspiracy and abetment, offences for which the maximum is a life sentence, has adopted a piecemeal procedure to pronounce convictions, sentences, and acquittals. This means that the process could take weeks before the fate of the other accused is known. Further, we may not know any time soon whether the trial court accepts the core contention of the Central Bureau of Investigation's chargesheet — that the blasts were masterminded by the absconding Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim at the behest of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and in retaliation for the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.

While the convicted chartered accountant, Yakub Memon, accused number one and a brother of Tiger Memon, was charged on a number of serious counts punishable with a maximum of a life term, 12 others who are charged under Section 32 (i) of TADA for planting the bombs could face the death sentence. As many as 27 accused, including the absconding, were alleged to have been sent to Pakistan via Dubai for training in arms and ammunition in order to carry out the operation. It is the fate the TADA court has reserved for the 123 people facing trial that will reveal whether and how much it buys into the prosecution's story of the larger conspiracy behind the blasts. The Mumbai police, which initially investigated the case, has expressed happiness that four of the seven accused have been convicted. But this initial measure of success for the prosecution must be seen against a wider backdrop. As many as 29 accused in the case are absconding, a list that includes the alleged kingpins behind the terrorist attacks: Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon, and Mohammed Dossa. The inability of the Indian state to bring these outlaws to trial reflects the complex international ramifications of modern-day terrorist outrages. It also calls attention to a sad and sobering reality: when justice is fully done in this instalment of the Mumbai blasts case, it will be far from complete justice.

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