Families vow to save the sentenced from gallows

Mumbai: Thursday’s judgment on the 1993 serial

blasts

was met with a mix of distress and denial by

families

of the five handed death,

life

imprisonment and a 10-year jail term, as they waited in silence in the fourth-floor corridor outside the designated Tada Court.

Beyond the obvious fear of losing a member of their family to a state-appointed execution, Taher Merchant’s nephew, Nadeem Pishori, stayed upbeat and vowed to do all they can to save him from the gallows. “We respect the judgment but there are many technical points that the trial court has ignored which we will challenge in the Supreme Court,” said Pishori even as Merchant’s wife, son and daughter who live on Mohammed Ali Road broke down on the bench.

Feroz Khan, the 50-year-old who had pleaded against being granted the death sentence when brought to the witness stand in June, could not escape the death row on Thursday. His wife who had come down from Dubai where the rest of his family including two daughters and his father live, stuck to a quiet corner, getting up only to rush towards her husband when taken to the restroom. “I tried to get you cigarettes but they wouldn’t grant permission for it today,” she told him while handing him a laminated verse from the Quran.

Riyaz Siddiqui’s son Ahad expressed relief, given the 10-year sentence that his father had been served. But he realised it could be foolhardy to abandon caution since the judgment for builder Pradeep Jain’s murder case in which Siddiqui is convicted is up for hearing on Friday. “By God’s grace, we’re a little relieved,” said Ahad (30) who had turned 18 when Abu Salem’s statement had led to Siddiqui’s arrest in 2005. Fourth among Siddiqui’s eight sons and four daughters, Ahad remained stoic as he stood by the window with his mother Hamida. “We’ve been through many ups and downs but have to be forward facing and can’t let this bring our family down any further.”

Feroz (25) and Shazeb (22), sons of Karimullah Khan, were in their early teens when their father—found guilty of actively participating in the landings of RDX and weapons—was arrested. The boys had put up a brave face on the day their father was convicted in June but were taken aback with the sentence sending him to jail for life. They paced the corridors until they found a leaning shoulder in Abdul Qayyum Shaikh, the lone acquitted in the case who arrived in court later in the afternoon. “I was called by the judge and also asked to sign a bond for Rs 1 lakh,” he said.