The Patna high court on Wednesday commuted the death sentences of four persons convicted for the 2013 serial blasts in Patna that targeted the inaugural rally of Narendra Modi, who was then the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, in Bihar.
A division bench comprising Justices Ashutosh Kumar and Jitendra Kumar disposed of the death reference moved by the state government on the order of a special National Investigation Agency court, and ruled that the four convicts shall serve "30 years in prison".
In October 2021, the trial court convicted nine persons in total, sentencing two to life imprisonment, two others to 10 years in jail each, and one to seven years in prison, while acquitting one of the accused.
In a 63-page order, the High Court said for Imtiyaz Alam, Haider Ali, Numan Ansari, and Mujibullah Ansari, a 30-year prison sentence "would suffice and would meet the ends of justice." Incidentally, Alam, Ali and Mujibullah Ansari are also serving life sentence in Bodh Gaya serial blasts of July, 2013.
The court noted that the four convicts, all residents of Ranchi in Jharkhand, were "persons of young age with no established trans-border contacts".
"The material before the trial court was insufficient...... to come to a conclusion that they were beyond reformation..... While they were in custody, nothing has come to light which would indicate that they had made it difficult for the investigators to perform with ease. There was no attempt..... at provoking their kindred to take retaliatory action", the bench pointed out.
A series of low intensity blasts had rocked the historic Gandhi Maidan here on October 27, 2013, when Modi was addressing the "Hunkar Rally". In the ensuing stampede, at least six persons were killed.
Although no terrorist organisation claimed responsibility, investigating agencies suspected the involvement of SIMI and Indian Mujahideen.
Notably, appeals against the NIA court were also filed by six of the convicts, including the four death sentence awardees, besides Umar Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi, both residents of Chhattisgarh who had confessed to their involvement and got lifer.
The court noted that the punishment awarded to Siddiqui and Qureishi was "condign" and dismissed all the six appeals which had been clubbed together with the death reference.
The court delivered its verdict nearly two months after it had reserved its judgment on July 25 last.
