Three Mumbai bombers face death (R.O.P)

A court in India has sentenced three more people to death for their involvement in a series of bomb attacks in Mumbai (Bombay) in 1993. Their sentencing means that six people have so far been condemned to death for the crime, which killed 257 people.

A total of 100 people were convicted in the case. The blasts were allegedly organised by the Muslim-dominated underworld in the city.

"The court gave the death penalty to three people who planted bombs and were involved in the main conspiracy," chief prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, told reporters.

Asgar Mukadam and Shahnawaz Qureshi were found to have taken an explosive-laden car to the Plaza cinema and parked it there. Ten people were killed and 36 others wounded in the blast.

Mohammed Ghansar parked an explosives-laden scooter in front of a jeweller's shop in a market, killing 17 people and injuring 57 others in the blast which followed.

"If you commit such an act, there is no other penalty," judge PD Kode said in passing sentence.

It is unusual for an Indian court to hand down the death penalty, and few people are actually executed.

In total, 100 people have been found guilty of involvement in the "Black Friday" attacks, which correspondents say were the most destructive and co-ordinated in the country's history.

The alleged masterminds of the blasts, Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, have been on the run since 1993.

Indian investigators say they were assisted by Pakistan's intelligence service, but Islamabad has denied any link.

Hanging.

http://www.deccanherald.com/archives/aug012004/sl3.asp

Death penalty: what’s best?

The debate on the modus operandi of the death sentence continues. Many judges believe that a lethal injection is the best method.

While a ban on the death penalty is being debated in the country, the Law Commission of India has finalised its report on the “mode of execution of the death sentence” and other incidental matters, after soliciting views from a cross-section of society. In its 187th report, recently tabled in Parliament, the Commission said that a vast majority of judges, who responded to its queries, felt that the lethal injection could be the ideal mode of execution.

High courts

The query was sent to judges of different high courts and subordinate courts. About 80 per cent of the judges favoured an amendment to Section 345 (5) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which says “when any person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he or she be hanged by the neck until dead”.

Five per cent of the judges said shooting could be an alternative mode of execution of the death sentence. Traditionally, hanging has been the mode of official executions in India. The hanging has to be done with Manilla ropes, which are not easy to find. Two ropes of special twine are tested to take a load of 127 kg through a 7-ft drop. Though 118 countries have abolished the death penalty, 78 countries have retained it. Some of the countries have not used it in the past decade. Even India’s neighbour, Nepal has abolished it.

Rights activists

* India, human rights activists have not campaigned against the death penalty in a sustained way.

But they become active when somebody is given the death sentence or when he is about to be hanged.

There is a detailed procedure of hanging in the jail manual. A black hood over the convict’s head is placed. After the noose is tied to his neck, he is lowered into a pit. He is allowed to hang for half an hour.

India has retained the death penalty in the absence of strong public opinion. Even the judiciary has not given its view in any judgement against the death sentence or the mode of execution.

While expressing their opinion on the mode of execution, most of the judges did not oppose death penalty. They opted for lethal injection.

In this method of execution, two needles are inserted into the veins. Saline solution is given to the person followed by an injection of anaesthetic medicine and pavulon orpancuronium bromide to paralyse the muscles. Subsequently, potassium chloride is injected to stop the heart beat.

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