Lajpat Nagar blast: High court reserves order on pleas

The Delhi high court today reserved its order on the appeal of three militants given death penalty for the 1996 Lajpat Nagar blasts that killed 13.

The Delhi high court on Wednesday reserved its order on the appeal of three militants given death penalty for the 1996 Lajpat Nagar blasts that killed 13.

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A division bench of justice S Ravindra Bhat and justice GP Mittal reserved the order after the Delhi Police standing counsel Pawan Sharma and the defence concluded their arguments.

The court also reserved the order on the appeal of Javed Ahmed Khan, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Sharma had earlier urged that the trial court had rightly convicted and awarded capital punishment to the three Jammu Kashmir Islamic Front (JKIF) militants. "They carried out the blast just to create terror," he said.

Counsel sought confirmation of the death sentence awarded to the three as there was ample evidence to prove their involvement in the terror act.

Documents seized from the accused after the blast showed their involvement in the terrorist attack, he said earlier.

The court was hearing the appeals of the six convicted, of whom three are on death row, for the blast in the crowded south Delhi market.

The trial court in its 2010 verdict had termed the crime a "dastardly act" that fell under the "rarest of rare" category.

Of the six convicts, Mohammed Naushad, Mohammed Ali Bhatt and Mirza Nissar Hussain were given death penalty. Javed Ahmed Khan, held guilty of murder, conspiracy and attempt to murder, was given life imprisonment.

Farooq Ahmed Khan and Farida Dar, held guilty under milder penal provisions, were sentenced to seven years' jail term. However, they were released as they had already spent much more time than that in prison.

Ten people were arrested and put on trial. Besides these six, the others were Mirza Iftikhar, Latif Ahmed Waza, Syed Maqbool Shah and Abdul Gani.