Court orders police protection for blast convicts

Mumbai, Mar 21 (UNI) The designated TADA court, hearing the 1993 Mumbai blast case, today directed the city police to provide protection to all the blast convicts while taking them to a government hospital from the Arthur Road jail.

TADA Judge P D Kode passed an order on a plea moved by prime convict Mohamed Shoeab Ghansar, one of the bomb planter and others who alleged that despite a court directive, the Mumbai Police were not providing sufficient police escorts to the blast convicts.

Gansar alleged that every time the police played down their security fears by citing ''non-availability'' of personnel.

Earlier, the court had passed an order directing the Jail Superintendent to send the blast convicts to a goverment-run hospital in case the jail hospital lacked facilities for providing adequate medical treatments.

Following the order and the ''non-avaliablity'' of police protection, the covicts resorted to mild protests and commotion.

The TADA court convicted 100 people out of the 123 accused for their involvement in the deadly blasts that shook Mumbai on March 12, 1993.

The convicts include bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt and members of the Memon family, who were the principal conspirators in the blasts.

However, Dutt and eight others, including three women convicts, were granted bail on humanitarian grounds.

Of the convicts, 91 are languishing in a special cell at the Arthur Road jail in South Central Mumbai.

UNI