Reuters AlertNet Lite - India to set up special court for Mumbai train bombs

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India to set up special court for Mumbai train bombs

08 Nov 2006 06:41:44 GMT
Source: Reuters

MUMBAI, Nov 8 (Reuters) - India will set up a special court for the July Mumbai train bombings to speed up justice for the families of the nearly 200 people killed in the attacks, officials said on Wednesday.

Police have accused 19 people, mostly Muslims, in the July 11 attacks on crowded commuter trains and platforms. Charges against them would be filed by the end of November, police said.

India's criminal justice system, burdened by millions of cases and a shortage of judges, typically takes years to grind through trials.

Special courts are often established for high-profile cases in an attempt to speed things up, but even then verdicts often take time -- a special anti-terrorism court is only now handing out verdicts for 1993 bombings in Mumbai that killed 257 people.

"The accused in the July 11 blast case will be tried in a special court so that justice is done fast," K.P. Raghuvanshi, Mumbai's anti-terrorism squad chief, told Reuters.

At least 186 people, including one of the suspected bombers, were killed in the attacks.

Legal experts say the trial could be controversial as some of the accused, whom police said had confessed to links with militant groups, later claimed that they had been tortured into making statements.

The Federal Law Ministry would formally approve the special court as soon as the police were ready to file final charges, a government official said.

India has accused Pakistan's military spy agency of plotting the Mumbai blasts and Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of executing them with the help of disaffected Indian Muslims.

Pakistan and Lashkar have denied any links to the blasts.

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Last updated:Wed Nov 8 06:43:24 2006