'93 blasts case: Convicts' plea for release rejected

Mumbai: Rejecting the plea of premature release by four 1993 bomb blast convicts, Maharashtra government has told them that they will have to be in jail for 50 years or till they are 65.

The convicts -- Salim Mira Shaikh, Niyaz Shaikh, Shaikh Ali, and Moin Qureshi -- have already spent 14 years in prison. They were convicted by a TADA court for their role in the 1993 bomb blasts.

The four convicts had moved the Bombay High Court in April urging for premature release and the court had asked the State government to decide their case.

On June 6, the government decided that the benefit or remission would not be available to the convicts and they will have to serve 50 years in prison or till they turn 65.

Remission means reduction in prison term subject to the good conduct of the convicts. Under the Remission rules, the state government has powers to classify life convicts based on the gravity of their crimes and consider for premature release cases of convicts who have already spent 14 years in jail.

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In the petition, the convicts argued that government guidelines prescribed that persons held guilty of terrorist activities had to spend 30 years in prison along with the remissions.