[JURIST] The Indian Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday upheld [text, PDF] the death sentence [JURIST report] for one of the plotters of the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings [IBN backgrounder] that killed 257 people. Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, brother of mastermind “Tiger” Memon, was convicted in 2006 for his role in orchestrating the attacks that spread havoc throughout the city and included a horrific attack on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The court, in upholding the sentence, found that his actions were “carried out with utter disregard to human life and dignity” which justifies the rare imposition of the death penalty.

The court also announced [Al Jazeera report] its decision [text, PDF] in a related case deciding that popular Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt must return to prison to serve a five-year sentence for having purchased weapons from some of those who carried out the Mumbai blasts. Dutt had purchased weapons for himself from friends who were part of the terrorist group responsible for the attacks. Dutt had been sentenced initially to a six-year team which was lowered to five years by the court.