Life sentence for Bombay bombers

Bombay has been hit by several blasts in the past decade

A Bombay court has sentenced 11 people, including a Pakistani national, to life in jail for carrying out a series of bomb blasts six years ago.

Four people were killed in the explosions and 30 others injured.

Thirteen people were arrested and charged with making and planting bombs in the city.

One of them, a second Pakistani national, was acquitted and another died during the trial. The other defendants were convicted last week.

They have denied being involved in the bombings and will appeal against the judgment in a higher court.

The blasts in Bombay, also known as Mumbai, occurred in January and February 1998.

Police initially alleged all 13 arrested were Pakistani nationals.

But after further investigation they said only two were Pakistanis.

Pleading innocence

The judge, Justice AL Achalya, has directed the government not to reduce the sentences of any of the guilty.

Mohammad Bashir, whose son was among those convicted, says his son is innocent.

"My son was at work when the blast happened," he said.

Public prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam, had asked for the death penalty for four of the men.

But he said he was happy with the judgment.

He said the most important aspect was that for the first time in Indian judicial history a court had directed the government not to exercise its discretion to repeal the sentence after 14 years.

One of the defence lawyers, Amin Solkar, maintained his clients were innocent and had been given the maximum length of imprisonment provided by the law.