New Delhi: There has been a fresh twist to the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.
At least 16 accused - convicted by the special TADA court hearing the case - have filed a fresh petition saying the proceedings under the TADA should be quashed.
They say the Act lapsed in 1995, and hence the proceedings are not legal. The application cites an opinion expressed by a Supreme Court Judge in a May 18 order that the applicability of Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (prevention) Act after it had lapsed in 1995 could violate the right to equality.
Judge Pramod Kode has adjourned the ongoing sentencing till June 21, asking the prosecution to file a reply.
The Prosecution will file its reply on Wednesday.
TADA lapsed on May 24, 1995, as it was to be in operation only for five years. But Section 1(4) of the Act provided that if an offence under TADA has taken place before this date, the accused can be prosecuted and sentenced for it even afterwards, though the act lapsed.
In the 1993 case, the trial continued well beyond the lapse of TADA, and is yet to end with 24 of the total 100 convicts, which includes actor Sanjay Dutt and prime conspirator Tiger Memon`s family members, still to be sentenced.
While passing an order on May 18 in Vijay Kumar Mishra v State of Maharashtra case, Justice Markandeya Katju of Supreme Court had raised a point as to whether a person who commits an act punishable under TADA before May 24, 1995, can be punished for it even on a later date. But if the same act is committed after that date, it is not punishable under TADA, he had said.
This violated the right to equality before the law enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution, Justice Katju had noted.
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