A relative of a convict fumes at the verdict. (AP)

Mumbai, July 18: When Vinayak Devrukhar trudged to a shop on March 12, 1993, little did he know that the sunny afternoon would soon turn into his darkest day.

He was standing in the shop, in central Mumbai’s bustling Century Bazaar, when he heard a deafening sound. All the bottles and jars in the shop broke into a thousand pieces — so did Vinayak’s life. He was only 14.

Abdul Gani Ismail Turk, the man who had planted the RDX-laden jeep in Century Bazaar killing 113 people, among them Vinayak’s brother and sister, was handed the death sentence today. But as the news trickled in this afternoon, Vinayak didn’t rejoice.

“The entire lane was black with smoke. I didn’t know that my brother and sister were out. My mother came out of the house and yelled at me to go find them. As I ran out, I saw bodies and severed body parts everywhere. There was blood everywhere. I just couldn’t find my siblings. Now I know that they were at the bus stop, waiting to go to school. My sister was 19 and my brother 11. My father recovered their burnt bodies from a state hospital,” he sobbed.

The tears haven’t stopped since that day.

One of Vinayak’s surviving sisters suffers from mental illness, while he dropped out of school. He now runs a phone booth and does part-time jobs to make ends meet. He is the sole earner in the family.

“It’s been 14 years, is this justice? Turk lived 14 years even after his heinous act. What had my children done? My daughter, used to take care of her younger siblings, she was my pride. Will I get her back ever?” asked 75-year-old Chandrakant Devrukhar.

If Chandrakant lost his children, the bomb snatched Sumit Pilankar’s mother when he was barely four.

The death term for her killer hasn’t made a difference to Sumit. “I don’t know what to say. I hope others get their justice soon,” he said.

A woman in tears outside the court. (AFP)

Standing near the teary-eyed Vinayak at Nehru Nagar slum just off the road where the Century Bazaar blast took place, Baby Gopinath Gondhali remembers her 13-year-old son Prashant with a smile.

“He was a charmer. He loved to study and stayed indoors most of the time. That day, he had gone out to get something to eat. When he returned, he was so scared that he hid under the bed. When I pulled him out, he had lost a lot of blood. A piece of glass had gone into his chest. I couldn’t save him. I wanted the person who killed my son to get the harshest punishment. But now that he has got it, I find no solace,” she said.

Deepika Mirchandani, a 13-year-old school-going girl when she was injured in the explosion, feels the sentence is “meaningless”.

“It took them 14 years to define and provide justice. When the verdict finally came, it took them four months to punish those involved. Honestly, I don’t really care. Justice if served after 14 years with a death sentence is meaningless,” said the 26-year-old Mirchandani who works with ABN Amro Bank. “How does a death sentence compensate for more than 14 years of pain? Abdul Turk won’t even know or feel how much his actions have made us suffer. He will be gone in a second.”