Mumbai blasts of 2002-2003: POTA court convicts 10 accused, acquits three for attacks that left 12 dead

Mumbai: A Special POTA Court on Tuesday found 10 accused guilty and acquitted three others for the triple bomb blasts that shook Mumbai between December 2002 and March 2003 killing at least 12 people and injuring scores of others. [caption id=“attachment_2701414” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of policemen standing guard after a blast outside a McDonalds restaurant on 6 December, 2002. Reuters[/caption] POTA Special Judge PR Deshmukh posted the hearing on the quantum of sentence for the 10 accused to Wednesday. The first blast occurred near the McDonald’s eatery in the main building of Mumbai Central Terminus on 6 December, 2002, followed by another in a market in Vile Parle on 27 January, 2003 and the third in a crowded ladies first class compartment of a suburban train near Mulund on 13 March. The prosecution said the accused, mostly members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), wanted to avenge the razing of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in 1992 and the communal riots of Gujarat in 2002. IANS