August 2003 Mumbai bombings

Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar twin blasts

Location| Mumbai, India
Date| 25 August 2003[1]

Attack type

| Car bombing
Deaths| 52[2]
Injured| 300[2]

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Terrorist attacks in India (since 2001)

List of terrorist incidents in India
Attacks with 50+ deaths in italics

2001|

* Indian Parliament
* 1st Srinagar

2002|

* Raghunath (Mar)
* Akshardam
* Kolkata
* Jammu and Kashmir
* 2nd Jammu & Kashmir
* Rafiganj
* Raghunath (Nov)
* 1st Mumbai
* Kurnool

2003|

* 2nd Mumbai
* 3rd Mumbai
* 4th Mumbai
* 5th Mumbai

2005|

* Ayodhya
* Jaunpur
* Begumpet
* 1st Delhi
* 1st Bangalore

2006|

* Ahmedabad
* 1st Varanasi
* 2nd Delhi
* Doda
* 6th Mumbai
* Malegaon
* W Bengal
* Kakopathar
* 2nd Srinagar

2007|

* Samjhauta Express
* 1st Hyderabad (May)
* 2nd Hyderabad (Aug)
* Ajmer
* Uttar Pradesh

2008|

* Jaipur
* 2nd Bangalore
* Ahmedabad
* 3rd Delhi (13 Sep)
* 4th Delhi (27 Sep)
* Malegaon
* Agartala
* Imphal
* 1st Assam
* 7th Mumbai

2009|

* Guwahati
* 2nd Assam
* Bhimajuli

2010|

* 3rd Bangalore
* Pune
* 1st Dantewada (Apr)
* 2nd Dantewada (May)
* Jnaneswari
* 5th Delhi
* 2nd Varanasi

2011|

* 8th Mumbai
* 6th Delhi

2012|

* 7th Delhi
* Pune

2013|

* Hyderabad
* 3rd Srinagar (Mar)
* 4th Bangalore
* 1st Sukma
* 4th Srinagar (Jun)
* Bodh Gaya
* Patna

2014|

* Chennai
* 3rd Assam
* 2nd Sukma
* Burdwan
* Kashmir Valley
* 4th Assam
* 5th Bangalore

2015|

* Gurdaspur
* Manipur

2016|

* Pathankot
* Pampore
* Uri
* Nagrota

2017|

* Shajapur
* 3rd Sukma
* Amarnath Yatra

2018|

* Sunjuwan
* 4th Sukma

2019|

* Pulwama
* Gadchiroli

2021|

* Sukma-Bijapur

2023|

* Rajouri
* 3rd Dantewada

2024|

* Reasi

2025|

* Bijapur
* Pahalgam

* v
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* e

Terrorist attacks in Mumbai

* 1993
* 2002
* January 2003
* March 2003
* July 2003
* August 2003
* 2006
* 2008
* 2011

The 25 August 2003 Mumbai bombings were twin car bombings in the Indian city of Mumbai that killed 54, and injured 244 people.[1] One of the bomb explosions took place at the Gateway of India, which is a major tourist attraction. The other bomb went off in a jewellery market Zaveri Bazaar near the Mumba Devi temple in central Mumbai. Both the bombs were planted in parked taxis and exploded during the lunch hour. No group initially claimed responsibility for the attack, but Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba was blamed for it.[3]

On 31 August 2003, three suspects – Ashrat Ansari, Haneef Sayyed (died 2019) and Sayyed's wife, Fahmeeda, were arrested. All three were convicted and sentenced to death in August, 2009 by a special POTA court in Mumbai. Later, the death sentence was upheld by Bombay High Court in February 2012.[2][4] Haneef was recruited in Dubai, UAE by Pakistani nationals to avenge anti-Muslim riots in India. His wife assisted and chose targets, while Ansari planted the bomb at Zaveri Bazar.[1][5]

## Chronology of events

[edit]

As per rediff.com[6]

* 25 August 2003: Twin blasts occur at Zaveri Bazaar and Gateway of India in south Mumbai. Around 52 people are killed and over 100 injured.
* 31 August 2003: Mumbai Police arrests three accused Ashrat Ansari, 32, Hanif Sayed, 46, and his wife Fehmida Sayed, 43.
* 1 October 2003: Two more accused, Mohammed Ansari Ladoowala and Mohammed Hasan Batterywala are arrested.
* 5 February 2004: Police file charges against six accused in the case as per Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act. Police allege the six to have been involved in placing an unexploded bomb in a bus at SEEPZ in suburban Andheri on 2 December 2002 and placing bomb in bus at Ghatkopar on 8 July 2003 in which two persons were killed.
* 20 June 2004: Charges are brought against five accused. One is let go.
* 2 September 2004: Trial begins.
* December 2008—Ladoowala and Batterywala are discharged from the case by POTA court. Later Supreme Court of India also upholds POTA review committee report stating no charges hold ground against them.
* 27 July 2009: Three accused Ashrat Ansari, Hanif Sayed and his wife Fehmida Sayed are convicted by special POTA court under sections of IPC, POTA, Explosives Act, Explosive Substances Act.
* 6 August 2009: Three convicts sentenced to death by special POTA court. Other two acquitted. In the proceedings of the case, accused said that they had acted emotionally in response to the Gujarat communal riots, had pleaded to be spared the death sentence. However, public prosecutor showed the court that they had, in fact, acted in cold blood and planned their attacks well. When a gelatin blast at Ghatkopar in 28 July 2003, claimed just two lives, they decided to use RDX to take a heavier toll in the twin blasts a month later, he said. They enjoyed the act of killing and deserve no mercy. The Pota court rejected all pleas of leniency and held that the brazen terror attack fell under the rarest of rare category of cases where the death sentence was well deserved.[5]
* 12 February 2012: Bombay High Court upheld the death sentence awarded by special POTA court to Mohammed Haneef Sayed, his wife Fahmeeda and aide Ashrat Ansari. However, HC quashed the order of the POTA court of acquitting two other accused, Mohammed Ansari Ladoowala and Mohammed Hasan Batterywala. They will now have to face trial under IPC charges that had been levelled against them and not under POTA.[2][4]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Death for three in 2003 Mumbai bomb blasts case". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 7 August 2009. Archived from the original on 9 August 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
2. ^ a b c d e "HC upholds death for LeT men in twin blasts case". 10 February 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
3. ^ "2003: Bombay rocked by twin car bombs". BBC. 25 August 2003. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
4. ^ a b "Death sentence upheld in Mumbai blasts case". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 10 February 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
5. ^ a b "Three get death for Gateway, Zaveri Bazar blasts". The Times of India. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
6. ^ "A chronology of the 2003 Mumbai twin blasts case". Rediff.com. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2009.

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