Reviewing death sentence: Supreme Court dismisses Sarabjit Singh's appeal

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed Sarabjit Singh's appeal to review the death sentence awarded by an Anti-terrorism court in 1991 for orchestrating bomb blasts in different parts of Pakistan. A three-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Muhammad Qaim Jan Khan and Justice Zawwar Hussain Jaffery, dismissed three review petitions with an observation that there was no ground for the review in the case.
Earlier on March 9, 2006 a two-member bench of the apex court had dismissed a review petition of Manjit Singh against his death penalty for carrying out bomb blast at Yakki Gate Lahore in 1990. The counsel for Sarabjit Singh, Rana Abudl Hameed did not appear despite court's orders.
Earlier, on June 22 (Monday) the court had asked the counsel to pursue the matter and had adjourned the hearing in an attempt to give him a chance for presenting his viewpoint to meet requirements of justice. Singh, a resident of Bhikiwand, Amritsar, was arrested on August 30, 1990, from the border area of Kasur.
According to the prosecution, Singh had confessed that he was trained by Indian Military Intelligence (IMI) and RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), to conduct multiple bomb blasts in Lahore, Kasur and Faisalabad in which 14 persons were killed, including women and children, and 89 sustained injuries.
Anti-Terrorism Court, Lahore had sentenced him to death on October 3, 1991. Singh challenged his conviction in the Supreme Court, which on September 27, 2005 dismissed the petition, as the appeal was time barred for 620 days. His first review petition was dismissed, whereas his other three identical review petitions against sentences were pending in the apex court.
In the Yakki Gate case, the spy was accused of planting an explosive device near a fruit shop belonging to Mohammad Hanif that resulted in the death of three persons. In its detailed judgement upholding the death sentence, the apex court had held that the verdict against the Indian spy was well deserved and did not warrant any leniency.
Later on March 6, 2008, Singh requested the then president Pervez Musharraf for clemency and execution of his sentence was deferred for one month. However, in order to make any decision, Musharraf had referred the matter to the new government. The SC on Wednesday dismissed all three review appeals of the Indian spy and upheld its earlier decision.