An Indian court has upheld death sentences handed down to three people, including a married couple, for planting bombs that killed 52 in Mumbai in 2003.
The Bombay High Court confirmed the death penalties given to Sayed Anees, 46, his wife Fehmida Sayed, 43, and Ashrat Ansari, 32, on charges of murder, criminal conspiracy and terrorism.
“It is a rarest of rare case, deserving the extreme penalty. They are ordered to be hanged by neck till dead,” Justices AM Khanvilkar and PD Kode ruled on Friday.
A lower court had condemned the three to death three years ago for planting bombs in two taxis that exploded in August 2003 at Mumbai’s landmark Gateway of India and the bustling gold jewellery Zaveri Bazaar market.
All three convicts watched the Bombay High Court proceedings by a video link from their jails. They plan to appeal against the judgment to India’s Supreme Court.
Police said the blasts were plotted in Dubai by the three, who had links with the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LT) and wanted to avenge the death of Muslims during riots which swept the western state of Gujarat in 2002.
