Mumbai, 07: A court formally charged 13 men with murder and other charges for their alleged roles in train bombings last year that killed 187 people in Mumbai.

The first charges were read out Monday in a Mumbai court. The formal reading of the charges concluded late on Tuesday, and all 13 were charged with murder in connection with the July 2006 bombings. All defendants pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the men face from 25 years imprisonment to the death penalty.

Police say the 13 men, along with 15 others still at large, plotted and carried out the attacks, setting off a series of bombs that ripped apart seven coaches during evening rush hour. Apart from those killed, another 824 people were wounded.

According to the charges, the men were members of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan, and of the Students' Islamic Movement of India, or SIMI, a banned group based in northern India.

Lashkar-e-Tayyaba is one of the largest of a dozen Islamic militant groups fighting to oust India from Kashmir, a Himalayan territory divided between India and Pakistan.

All 13 of the men are Muslim Indians, while 10 of the 15 still at large are from Pakistan. Two others allegedly involved were killed. One died in the bombing while another was shot dead by police. The men refused to sign the charge sheet saying they did not recognize the court's jurisdiction in the case.

Mumbai, Aug 07: Actor Sanjay Dutt has moved Supreme Court against his conviction by the Tada court and applied for bail. Dutt`s lawyer Satish Maneshinde filed the bail plea on Tuesday after meeting the actor in Pune and securing his signature on a set of papers which is now in Delhi.

The court will also be moved against the six-year sentence awarded to the actor on 31st July, in the Mumbai serial blasts case.

His lawyers have applied for bail on the ground that Sanjay Dutt had himself confessed that he was a part of a party hosted by Dawood Ibrahim in Dubai. And also he was a close acquaintance of Anees Ibrahim.

The CBI has stated that Dutt was not immature and was aware of what he was doing and said that it was opposing his bail plea.

Media reports state that not only has Dutt apllied for bail but he was also in fact challenging the verdict of the TADA court. His sister Congress politician Priya Dutt has been lobbying hard with the huge battery of lawyers that she has to help Dutt.

The argument put forward in favour of his bail application was also that he had never misused his bail.

However a final decision is yet to be taken on this.

Dutt was sentenced to six years` rigorous imprisonment for being in possession of `dangerous weapons` in the 1993 Mumbai bombings case last week.

He was also fined Rs 25,000 by the special anti-terror TADA court, conducting the trial into the serial blasts that killed 257 people and injured many hundreds.


Sanjay Dutt may be a carpenter in jail

It may be a far cry from the glitz and glamour of Bollywood for actor Sanjay Dutt if he opts for carpentry as part of the rigorous imprisonment handed out to him for his conviction in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

A senior jail official said carpentry is one of the options available to Dutt but no decision has so far been taken. The decision would be determined by the aptitude of the actor, he added.

However, sources said Dutt may be asked to make cane furnitures. Dutt, one of the highest-paid stars of Bollywood, may get Rs 40 per day for seven-hour hard work in the jail.

MUMBAI: The backlog of cases has never bothered me, Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar had told a gathering of judges recently at the launch of the e-court project.

Not without reason. Since taking over as the top judge of the Bombay HC in April, the Chief Justice has in a record of sorts, disposed of 926 cases. The pace of disposal is significant as it was achieved in 59 working days which works out to an average disposal rate of 15 cases per day.

Consider this against the mounting backlog of cases, over 3.69 lakh before the high court and 40.53 lakh cases pending before the subordinate courts across Maharashtra. At the same meeting, the Chief Justice had reminded the judges to retain quality of orders. He said,"Do not get disposal obsessed, but get disposal oriented."

The judge is definitely leading the way. Of the 926 cases disposed, 556 were heard and final orders passed right at the admission stage. They also include about 52 cases that were filed before the Aurangabad bench of the HC, which he had presided over for three days in mid-June.

The judgments have been passed while the Chief Justice was sitting in a division bench with other judges, and include two full benches. The cases deal with a broad spectrum of cases - criminal writ petitions, public interest litigations, service matters, labour disputes and a large batch of land acquisition cases and arbitration cases.

Among the important judgments passed by benches headed by the Chief justice are the dismissal of the appeal challenging the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act by 7/11 blast accused and a landmark judgment that foreigners cannot claim the same rights as Indian citizens.

The Chief Justice has also been tough on Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation authorities and the state government on the issue of pot-holed roads and waterlogging in the monsoon.