Chronology of 1996 Samleti Blast case: How 6 Men Spent 23 Years in Prison to Finally Walk Free as Innocents
Image for representational use only.Image Courtesy : NDTV
New Delhi: Lodged in jail for the past 23 years without bail or parole in connection with the 1996 Samleti blast case, six men were acquitted by the Jaipur bench of the Rajasthan High Court on July 22. They were earlier convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court.
Those who have been acquitted include five natives of Jammu and Kashmir -- Abdul Ghani (57), Mirza Nisar Hussain (39), Mohammad Ali Bhatt (48), Latif Ahmed Baja (42) and Javed Khan – and one Rayees Beg (56) from Agra in Uttar Pradesh.
While five of them walked free from the Jaipur Central Jail a day after their acquittal, Khan is still lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail and is facing trial in the Lajpat Nagar blast case.
Beg had been in the prison since June 8, 1997, while the others were imprisoned between June 17, 1996 and July 27, 1996. During this time, they were lodged in jails in Delhi and Ahmedabad, but were never released on parole or bail.
Discharging them of all charges, the court said that the prosecution had failed to prove their links with the conspiracy hatched for the blast.
The High Court’s division bench of justices Goverdhan Bardar and Sabina upheld the death sentence to Dr Abdul Hameed, who was in the bus at the time of the blast, and life sentence to Pappu Salim, a former approver who later turned hostile. The court said Hameed was the “key person” behind the planting of the bomb in the bus going to Bikaner from Agra on May 22, 1996.
A chronology of the case
May 22, 1996: A bomb blast was carried out in a Rajasthan State Transport Corporation (RSTC) bus at 4 pm at Samleti village under Mahwa police station area in Rajasthan’s Dausa district. A total of 14 people were killed and 37 suffered injuries in the incident, which took place a day after the blast in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar. The bus was travelling from Agra to Bikaner.
May 22, 1996: An FIR in the case was lodged at Mahwa police station on the basis of the statement made by the conductor of the bus who was also injured.
From July 1996 till January 1997: All accused were arrested from Uttar Pradesh and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir by the local police and the CB-CID, which was probing the case.
September 12, 1996: First chargesheet was filed in the case.
October 16, 1996: Second chargesheet was filed.
June 18, 1997: Third chargesheet was filed.
September 23, 1997: Fourth and final chargesheet was filed. The chargesheets alleged that the men were associated with the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and also claimed that some of them had involvement in the 1996 Sawai Man Singh Stadium blast case.
The trial began in 2011.
September 29, 2014: The Additional District and Sessions Judge of Bandikui sentenced Abdul Hameed, a medical doctor by profession who belongs to Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh, to death and life imprisonment to seven, including the five from Jammu and Kashmir. They were convicted under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), sections 3 and 4 of the Public Property Damage Act and Section 4/5 of the Explosives Act.
Three others – Chandra Prakash Agarwal from Bandikui, Kuljinder Singh from Punjab and Farookh Ahamad from Srinagar – were acquitted by the lower court.
The investigative agencies arrested all the accused in the case in the year 1996 and January 1997. The agencies then filed three different charge sheets against the accused.
A total of 100 witnesses were examined and cross-examined by the lower court in addition to the scientific evidence.
One of the accused, Raies Ahamed, died during the trial.
In 2014, additional district and sessions judge Bandikui convicted seven persons in the case under various sections of Indian Penal Code, the Explosive Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) and acquitted one individual named Farooq.
The state government had challenged the acquittal of Farooq, however, the high court dismissed the appeal.
Dr Hameed is also a key accused in another case related to planting a bomb at the SMS stadium in Jaipur in January 1996.
Get the latest reports & analysis with people's perspective on Protests, movements & deep analytical videos, discussions of the current affairs in your Telegram app. Subscribe to NewsClick's Telegram channel & get Real-Time updates on stories, as they get published on our website.
