Hyderabad: The victims and some of the family members of those who died in the twin blasts of 2007 rejoiced following the verdict given by the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, which sentenced Anique Syed and Akbar Ismail Choudhary to death for planting the bombs at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat eatery at Koti, on Monday. Meanwhile, Tariq Anjum, the third convict, was awarded a life imprisonment.
Speaking to this newspaper, the victims shared their happiness upon ‘finally hearing good news’ and justice done to them after 11 long years.
Anjayya, the man who lost his 14-year-old daughter among two more family members, said, “We are very happy that the men behind the heinous act finally got what they deserved. However, this should have been done a long time ago. We still wonder what took them so long, but we are happy with the verdict. Justice is finally served to us.”
Although postponed for a few days, the system has done the right thing by giving them death sentences, said J. Narasimha Sharma, who lost his 20-year-old daughter Pratyusha in the blast. “My girl just went to have something to eat and did not walk into a warzone that fateful day. She still paid a price and though the victims and the families cannot get back their loved ones or their normal lives, it is news like this which makes us feel happy and believe in our justice system, though it was delayed. They were dragged unnecessarily to courts and places when they could have given this verdict long back.
“My daughter would have been 38 now and she was preparing to go to the United States for further education. Even the men behind this are old now, though we do not see a point in giving them lifer and penalties now, only reason to rejoice is that they are at least now given a verdict on this” said Mr. Sharma.
The public should be beware of suspicious movements in crowded places, though one can know when what can happen, said Anjayya.
Speaking about the verdict, MLC Ramachander Rao said that he fully welcomed it. “We appreciate the system for coming out with such a sound verdict as apart from the ones we lost, there were several lives damaged permanently post the dreadful incident that shocked the country,” he said.
BJP leader G. Kishan Reddy also shared his happiness and said that it was indeed a very welcome decision by the NIA court.
