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| Three from J&K sentenced to death by Delhi Court | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
NEW DELHI, Apr 22: A sessions court has passed death sentence here today against three out of six convicts of a militant outfit from Jammu and Kashmir in the Lajpat Nagar Central Market bomb blast case. Fourteen years ago the tragic blast had led to the loss of 13 lives besides hurting 39 others.
Those given death penalty by District and Sessions Judge SP Garg are Mohammed Naushad, Mohammed Ali Bhatt and Mirza Nissar Hussain. The court said that the "three convicts are being awarded the death penalty which is subject to confirmation from the High Court."
Fourteen years after the ghastly incident that occurred on the evening of May 21, 1996, the judge ordered today to send the three convicts to the gallows in view of their complicity in the grave offence. This, as per the sentence passed today by the judge, warranted extreme penalty.
Another convict who had confessed the crime Javed Ahmed Khan was found guilty of serious offences of murder, conspiracy and attempt to murder under Indian Penal Code along with the three sentenced to death.
Yet two others Farooq Ahmed Khan and Farida Dar, who were held guilty under related but milder penal provisions under Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act, were allowed to walk free.
The court said that the imprisonment served by Khan and Dar during the trial was sufficient punishment for the two. All the convicts belong to Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front.
Earlier on April 8, the court had convicted six out of 10 accused in the case. The judge also came down heavily on police for sloppy probe and acquitted four accused in the case.
They were Mirza Iftikhar, Latif Ahmed Waza, Syed Maqbool Shah, and Abdul Gani. All the four were set free because of insufficient evidence against them produced by police before the court.
The blast was triggered by an explosive laden Maruti car that turned out to be stolen and whose registration number as displayed on the bumpers' plate was changed. It went off killing and maiming unsuspecting people and also damaging nearby buildings and shops. Investigations by police had led to those put on long drawn trial through tracing phone calls made to media orgnisations after the incident to claim responsibility for it.
The court heard the arguments of lawyers both from the prosecution as well as defence regarding the quantum of sentence on April 13 after holding and pronouncing six of the accused guilty on April 8. The sentence was first to be passed on April 17 but it was rescheduled and was pronounced today by the court after years of trial
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