SC declines early hearing for Mumbai blasts convicts

New Delhi, Aug 29 (UNI) The Supreme Court today declined to give early hearing date for the bail applications of four convicts in 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.

A bench comprising Justices BN Aggarwal and PP Naolekar, however, ordered that the petitions of Rubina, Mudina, Yusuf and Essa shall be heard along with other petitions on the date already notified.

Senior counsels Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Altaf Ahmed appearing for the petitioners, pleaded before the court that the copies of judgement had not been supplied to the petitioner adding that other convicts in the case,including film star Sanjay Dutt, have already been granted interim bail till they are supplied with the copies of the judgement by the TADA court Mumbai.

The counsels also pleaded that the petitioner should also be granted interim bail with the same condition as when they were on bail during the trail.

The apex court, however, declined to issue notices to the CBI and the state of Maharashtra and directed that the petitions would be listed before the bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan along with other pending petitions. The petitioners have also challenged their conviction and sentence in the case in which around 250 lives were lost when bombs exploded at ten places on March 12, 1993 to settle score for riots which rocked Mumbai in 1992 in the aftermath of the demolition of Babri Masjid at Ayodhya.

UNI