The Supreme Court today admitted for hearing a Maharashtra government appeal challenging the Bombay High Court order commuting death sentence of Mirza Himayat Baig, the lone convict in the 2010 Pune German Bakery blast, which had claimed over a dozen lives.
The high court had commuted Baig's death sentence to life imprisonment in 2016.
Mirza Himayat Baig has also moved the top court against his conviction and sentencing by the trial court and the high court.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah admitted the cross appeals and said it will hear them.
On July 22, 2016, the top court had sought Mirza Himayat Baig's response on the Maharashtra government's appeal.
The government's plea challenged the March 17, 2016 judgement of the Bombay High Court which also acquitted Baig of serious charges under various sections of the Unlawful Prevention (Activities) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including sections 302 (murder) read with 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
The high court had convicted 32-year-old Baig for offences under the IPC's section 474 (possessing a document knowing it to be forged with intent to use it as genuine) and under section 5(b) of the Explosive Substances Act, relating to punishment for making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstance.
Mirza Himayat Baig, who was alleged to be a member of banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, was arrested in September 2010 from Latur in Maharashtra for his involvement in the blast at German Bakery, a popular eatery in Pune's Koregaon Park area. The blast killed 17 people and injured 58, including some foreigners.
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