Punishment inadequate and insufficient: Victim’s kin

mumbai — Terming the punishment handed out by a special POTA court here in the multiple blasts case that rocked Mumbai between December 2002 and March 2003 as “inadequate and insufficient”, a victim’s kin said the verdict needs to be collectively opposed.

Nand Kishore Salvi, younger brother of Ramakant Salvi, who was killed in the 2003 Mulund blast, said: “I have come to know that no one has been awarded the death sentence. I feel the punish- ment could have been harsher. Possibly death penalty would have sent the right signal to such antinational elements.”

“After a long wait of 13 years, this punishment does not satisfy us. It is inadequate and insufficient. Not only me, I can say that none of the victim’s families would be happy,” he added.

When asked, what he will do or whether he will request government to challenge the verdict in higher courts, Salvi said: “First, we need to go through the details of the order. Then I will try to reach out to other relatives of blast victims and then take the final course of action...we would definitely do something and try to challenge it collectively.”

Recalling that fateful night, Salvi said: “Ramakant was 57 and was a gazetted officer in the Bombay High Court. He was planning for his post retirement life. But suddenly, everything was snatched from him and his family”. Salvi also thanked BJP MP Kirit Somaiya for his follow up with the government and other agencies which really helped the families of the victims and aided their rehabilitation.

“Though my brother’s family got compensation, but the credit goes to Kirit Somaiya, who persuasively followed up the rehabilitation issues and kept regular contact with us. Otherwise, we would have had to undergo more hardship to secure justice,” he added. —