There were some of the observations made by special judge K Uthirapathi who recently handed down life imprisonment to 43 of the 158 convicted for the blasts.
He blames the state for helping convicts escape death penalty
CHENNAI: “Convicts in the 1998 Coimbatore serial blasts case could not be given capital punishment because of a number of factors including failure of the state machinery."
"Award of capital punishment in this case is unlikely to have a deterrent effect on fundamentalist elements…"
"Certain sections of the Muslim community have lost faith in the judicial system in the country."
These are some of the observations made by special judge K Uthirapathi who recently handed down life imprisonment to 43 of the 158 convicted for the blasts that killed 58 persons and injured 250.
In his 1,704-page judgment, copies of which were available on Tuesday, the judge observed that conspiracies to indulge in retaliatory killings (18 Muslims were killed months before the blasts) and assassinate BJP leader LK Advani have been proved in the case, but there was no "direct evidence" against Al Umma founder leader SA Basha. The judge explained this was the reason why Basha was given life term instead of capital punishment.
Though "the nature of the crime would attract nothing less than death penalty," some factors "outweigh the legal ingredients for awarding the death penalty," he said, adding elsewhere that if allowed to live, it will be a chance for the convicts to tell the world that their path of violence was wrong.
Repeatedly referring to the religious and communal angle, the judge drew attention to the contentions of the defence lawyers (on the situation preceding the blasts) that "violence was made to let loose against the Muslim community…" and that they were "driven to a state of perpetual fear and a sense of helplessness…"
The judge observed "any failure by the state machinery… or any commission of any forbidden act on any other forces belonging to any other community would trigger a chain reaction that affect the society." Muslims have more faith in the "laws of the Almighty and not in the law of the land," he said, adding that none of the accused moved bail applications after the judgment was pronounced on August 1 only reinforced the fact that they had no faith in judiciary Uthirapathi referred to the deposition of Basith, considered the engineer of the bombs, who spoke about how the 'kar seva,' Babri masjid demolition and the way then chief minister J Jayalalithaa expressed "absolute support" to such events "created a deep wound in the minds of the accused."
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