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    No bail, parole for Lajpat Nagar blast case convict

    Synopsis

    Naushad’s lawyer Siddharth Dave pointed out that the accused had already spent over 20 years in prison, pleading for leniency on this count.

    ET Bureau
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant either interim bail or parole in custody to a Lajpat Nagar blast case convict to attend his daughter’s wedding, saying that those “accused of killing citizens indiscriminately” cannot expect leniency from the courts.

    Mohammed Naushad, sentenced to a life term in connection with the 1996 blasts in which 13 people were killed and at least 38 injured, wanted interim bail for a month to attend his daughter’s wedding in March, or in the alternative parole in custody for a month. The case came up for hearing before a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar.

    Naushad’s lawyer Siddharth Dave pointed out that the accused had already spent over 20 years in prison, pleading for leniency on this count. He argued that the accused had already undergone a sentence for carrying explosives under the Arms and Explosives Act.

    “The only sentence he hasn’t undergone is Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC read with Section 320 (murder),” Dave argued. “In any case, he was only the conspirator,” he argued.

    Lawyer PK Dey resisted the plea, saying the CBI had already challenged the life term awarded to the convict and sought enhancement of the life term to death. The Chief Justice agreed with him, and dismissed Naushad’s bail plea.

    “This is such a heinous crime. Those who carry out such activities must realise that this is the end of the families. You can’t kill citizens indiscriminately and say I have my family, my sons, my daughters etc,” CJI Khehar said, adding, “You cannot have both.

    Either this or that. If you want to kill discriminately you cannot say family. Once you kill, that’s the end of your family.”


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