India to execute 2003 bomb trio

A court in India has sentenced to death three people for carrying out bombings that killed more than 50 people in Mumbai (Bombay) in 2003.
Haneef Sayyed, his wife Fahmeeda and Ashrat Ansari were convicted last month of murder and conspiracy.
The blasts at the Gateway of India landmark and a jewellery market caused carnage and shocked the nation.
They were said to be in retaliation for the deaths of Muslims during riots in Gujarat state the year before.
Hundreds have been killed in attacks in Mumbai in recent years.
The three convicted bombers were found to have links to a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, which investigators believe was involved in the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai.
'Pakistani link'
Judge MR Puranik, sitting at a special anti-terrorism court, ordered that all three people convicted "should be hanged by the neck until dead".

They stood impassive in the dock as the sentences were handed down, an AFP news agency correspondent reports.
Their lawyers have indicated that they will appeal against the death penalty, which is given rarely in India and is often delayed indefinitely or commuted by the president, the agency notes.
A lawyer for Haneef Sayyed argued his client should be sent to prison for life without parole and Fahmeeda Sayyed's counsel also argued against the death penalty, saying she was a poor, uneducated woman pressured into committing the crime by her husband.
Ansari's lawyer, Sushan Kunjuramaran, made no submissions but the convicted bomber told the judge he did not agree with the verdict.
Chief public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the trio's crimes had shown "extreme brutality" and resulted in the "massacre of innocent people".
"It would be a mockery of justice if the death penalty is not imposed," he said before sentencing.
The double car bombing in August 2003 left devastation at the Gateway of India and the Zaveri Bazaar market near the Mumba Devi temple in central Mumbai.

About 180 people were injured.
The three defendants, all of them from Mumbai, were charged under India's Prevention Of Terrorism Act, which has since been repealed.
Two others were accused - Mohammed Ansari and Mohammed Hasan. They were discharged after a review by the special court last year.
The three defendants were convicted of plotting the bombings in co-ordination with Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Lashkar is also accused of carrying out other attacks in India in recent years, including the gun and bomb assault on Mumbai last November.
Feared militants
The judge said all three defendants were members of the group, a charge which they denied.
Lashkar (the group's name translates as Soldiers of the Pure) is one of the most feared groups fighting against Indian control in Kashmir.
It was banned by Pakistan in January 2002 amid pressure that followed the 9/11 attacks on the US.
Until then Lashkar was able to operate openly inside Pakistan, raising funds and recruiting members.
Lashkar was accused by India of bomb attacks on Delhi in October 2005 that killed more than 60 people, and a December 2001 raid on India's parliament.
Indian investigators have also linked the group to the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai in which gunmen killed 166 people in a three-day rampage.
The man believed to be the only surviving gunman, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, pleaded guilty to a role in the attack at his trial in India last month.
He, too, could face the death penalty if his confession is accepted and judges agree to impose the maximum penalty.

Best Bakery case

The Best Bakery case (also called Tulsi Bakery case) was a legal case involving the burning down of the Best Bakery on March 1, 2002, in Vadodara, India. The incident, which resulted in the deaths of 14[1] (including 12 Muslims[2]), has come to symbolize the carnage, and the alleged complicity of the state government during the 2002 Gujarat violence.[3]
The day after the attack, Zaheera Sheikh filed the first informant complaint. [1] Zaheera, a 19-year-old during the incident, was a key and notable witness. She stated that she saw her family members burn to death, when the mob gathered, shouting communal slogans. Her family fled to the terrace and some locked themselves in a first floor room. The mob set the bakery on fire and killings continued from 6 pm to 10 am the next day. Her statements were recounted for many publications. Another notable witness was a tailor from Ahmedabad, Qutubuddin Ansari.[3]
On March 23, however, 37 of the 73 witnesses, including Zaheera, turned hostile, saying they had seen nothing the night of the attack. [3]
All of the 21 accused muslims were acquitted on June 27, 2003 by a "fast-track court."[7][5] Other witnesses, had suffered head injuries and were not in the mental state to give an accurate witness. The government pointed to the lapses by the police in "registering and recording of FIR" and on the part of the prosecution in "recording of evidence" of witnesses in the Best Bakery case.[8]
The Gujarat government filed an amended appeal in the Gujarat High Court seeking retrial of the case. The appeal was admitted by the Gujarat High Court. After being indicted by the Supreme Court of India, the police registered a case against Bharatiya Janata Party legislator for intimidating the witnesses of the incident. The Government of Gujarat admitted there were lapses on the part of the police in registering and recording the FIR in the case and on the part of the prosecution in recording the evidence of witnesses. It said the police had attempted to help the accused by not submitting names of the accused.
Zaheera Sheikh retracted her statement again. She stated that the judgment passed by the Gujarat court was correct. She also stated that she had never met the above mentioned legislator. She claims that she made all the statements under the pressure of NGO activist Teesta Setalvad.
Thus 17 charged with murdering 14 people, were retried in a case beginning in 2004.[11]
The prosecution declared Zaheera Sheikh to be a hostile witness. A tape by Tehelka claimed that Zaheera had been bribed by a MLA Masjlis-e-Shura, an apex decision-making bodies of Muslims, consequently declared Zaheera Sheikh, as a 'dissembler', effectively ousting her from the Muslim community. The organization stated its reason that Zaheera was "tarnishing its [community's] image by making false statements." [12]
Zaheera was sentenced by the Indian Supreme Court to one year in prison for perjury in the murder, after being found guilty by the court of lying. She was also fined 50,000 rupees (US$1,000), which, if unpaid, would increase her time in prison by another year.[13]