HC refuses to grant relief to two serial blasts accused

The Bombay High Court today refused to grant bail to two men who were recently convicted by a special POTA court for their complicity in the multiple bomb blasts that had rocked Mumbai between December 2002 and March 2003, claiming 13 lives.
Ateef Mulla and Hasib Mulla, convicted on March 29, had sought bail on the ground that liberty was granted to them by the special court earlier during the period of trial. On the same ground, they should be given bail now, the duo argued.
However, the vacation bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and M S Karnik asked the two convicts to approach the regular bench of the high court after the summer vacation gets over on June 7.

The special court had convicted 10 out of the 13 accused in connection with the multiple blasts. While three convicts Farhan Khot, Wahid Ansari and Muzammil Ansari were awarded life imprisonment, seven others, including Ateef Mulla and Hasib Mulla, were given jail terms ranging from two to ten years.
Twelve people were killed in Mulund train blasts on March 13, 2003. Prior to that, on December 6, 2002, several persons were injured in a blast at McDonald's at Mumbai Central station, while a person died in a blast in a market in Vile Parle (East) on January 27, 2003.
In a combined charge sheet filed against 15 accused in the Mulund, Vile Parle and Mumbai Central blast cases, police had charged them with offences under POTA, Explosive Substances Act and preparation to wage war against the nation and criminal conspiracy under Indian Penal Code.