DNA Edit: Long road to justice

At the risk of belting out a cliche, it must be said that justice delayed is justice denied, and this is very much the case with the TADA court, which, 24 years after the maximum city was rocked by 12 explosions, has convicted notorious gangsters Abu Salem and Mustafa Dossa. On March 12, 1993, bombs went off in multiple locations in Mumbai, including the BSE, Zaveri Bazaar, Plaza Cinema, Air India building and other locations. A total of 257 died while 713 were injured.

The blasts left an indelible imprint on those who suffered losses of limb, property or of their near and dear ones. The convictions on Friday are a much-needed salve, even if a marginal one. However, this is, by no means, a closure of what is a horrid chapter in the life of Indian democracy. The next leg of litigation involves the determination of the quantum of punishment to be awarded to the convicts, hearing for which will begin on June 20.

Even now, it will be open to the accused to file interim appeals against the conviction in the Maharashtra High Court, followed by the Supreme Court. How long will those proceedings go  on is anybody’s guess. Meanwhile, India’s anti-terrorism and intelligence capabilities have not seen any improvement. Data from South Asian Terrorism Portal shows that between 2000 to 2017, a total of 873 civilians had been killed, while over 3094 have been injured in terror attacks outside of J&K, Punjab, and the Northeast.

In Mumbai alone, 13 attacks have taken place after the 1993 blasts, which killed over 700 people and injured over 2,300 people. The national capital is no better with a track record of 32 blasts since 1997, with 134 deaths and 884 injured. Meanwhile, the man calling the shots from behind the curtain — Dawood Ibrahim — has the good fortune of living to a ripe old age. In 2015, a reputed business magazine estimated Dawood’s net worth to be about $6.7 billion.

Now, experts claim, it would have ballooned to over $10 billion. Other reports show that Dawood is putting much stock in cultivating clean businesses in countries like Germany, Singapore, China, UK, Cyprus, Spain, Morocco, Nepal, Malaysia and UK, while his second-in-command Chhota Shakeel is handling drugs smuggling, hawala dealings and arms trafficking. Lastly, it will be remiss of us as Indian citizens, if we do not remind ourselves that the motive of the blasts was to avenge the pogrom unleashed in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, 1992. Indian society, once again, is seething with communal anger. We must learn lessons from history, lest we want it repeated.