A special court in Coimbatore on Friday discharged Riaz-ur-Rahman, an explosives dealer from Mysore, who had turned approver in the 1998 serial bomb blasts case.
The court sentenced three more to life terms, taking to 43 the number of those awarded life imprisonment, for hatching a conspiracy to eliminate BJP leader L K Advani during his visit to Coimbatore. He had arrived in the city to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections on February 14 that year. In the series of blasts set off by activists of Al Umma in 14 places in the city, 58 persons were killed and over 200 injured. Special Judge K Uthirapathi said Mr Rahman was entitled to be discharged from the case in conformity with the deposition made by him before the fifth judicial magistrate. The special public prosecutor did not seek permission to treat the witness as hostile or choose to make any attempt before the court to launch criminal proceedings against him. Of the 43, 26 were awarded double life terms, while one was sentenced to three life terms and another four awarded life terms on various counts. Since life term means imprisonment for life, multiple life imprisonment means little.
The 43 were among the 70 convicted of major offences like criminal conspiracy and murder. Among the rest in this category, 15 were sentenced to 13 years RI and others to imprisonment ranging from three years to nine years. All the sentences would run concurrently. Those awarded life sentences include Al Umma founder S A Basha, General Secretary Mohammed Ansari , Basha’s son Siddiq Ali and Ozir . On August 1, the special court acquitted eight of the 166 accused, including Kerala-based People’s Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasser Madani. Of the rest, it found 88 persons guilty of minor charges and released them after setting off the trial period against conviction.
Even among the remaining 70, those who have been spared life term have already been released or are expected to be released as they have already spent over nine years in jail. This will be set off against their sentence and the remaining period if any, may be remitted by the government. Those undergoing life terms are usually considered for remission after they spend a minimum period of 10 years in jail.
