The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea by the Maharashtra government against a 2016 Bombay High Court judgement commuting the death sentence of Mirza Himayat Baig, the only convict in the 2010 German Bakery blast case, to life imprisonment. Baig has also moved the court against his conviction and the sentence passed by the High Court, PTI reported.
A bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah said it will hear the cross-appeals.
In 2013, a sessions court in Pune had convicted Baig and awarded him the death penalty for his involvement in the blast that killed 17 people and injured 58. He was acquitted of unlawful activities and eight other charges, but the court upheld charges of possessing RDX and using forged documents. The police had said Baig was a member of radical outfit Indian Mujahideen.
On March 17, 2016, the Bombay High Court quashed the death penalty, and also acquitted Baig of serious charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Subsequently, the Maharashtra government filed an appeal in the top court. In July that year, the Supreme Court sought Baig’s response to the appeal.
In its appeal, the Devendra Fadnavis-led government claimed that the High Court did not take into consideration the evidence which showed that Baig had travelled from Latur to Mumbai and stayed at a hotel, for the purpose of entering into a conspiracy for an attack on German Bakery.
“Prosecution witness 93 was the autorickshaw driver who saw the respondent with the planter of the bomb [Yasin Bhatkal],” the plea said. “In the test identification parade, the autorickshaw driver identified the respondent. In spite of that, the high court held that the plea of the prosecution that the respondent was last seen with planter of the bomb does not get credence.”
Another accused, Qateel Siddiqui, who had been arrested in the case, was killed in a jail in Pune in a scuffle with other inmates in 2012. Yasin Bhatkal, who planted the bomb, was arrested in 2013. His case is pending in a trial court.
Mohsin Choudhary, Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Ismail Bhatkal, Fayyaz Kagzi and Sayyad Zabiuddin Ansari are other accused wanted in the case. They are all allegedly operatives of the Indian Mujahideen group.
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