JAIPUR: The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday overturned the death sentence and acquitted four persons, earlier convicted in the Jaipur bomb blast case of May 13, 2008.
The Jaipur blast claimed 71 lives and left 185 people injured.
A division bench of Justices Pankaj Bhandari and Sameer Jain acquitted four persons namely, Sarvar Azmi, Saifur Rahman, Mohammad Saif and Mohd Salman. The families of these four men have maintained that they were wrongly framed in the caste.
Syed Sadat Ali, the counsel representing the four men said that the High Court has termed the entire theory of Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) wrong.
The four persons had appealed 28 times before the High Court, including an appeal to abolish their death sentence.
The hearing this time went on for 48 days. The state government will appeal against this decision in the Supreme Court.
A special court had awarded the death sentences to the four in 2019.
Originally, there were five suspects in the case. In 2019, the trial court acquitted Shahbaz Hussain
While delivering the verdict, the court said the investigating officer did not have legal knowledge. Therefore, instructions have been given to the DGP to take action against the investigating officer as well. The court has also asked the Chief Secretary to conduct an inquiry against the investigating officers.
At the same time, Additional Advocate General (AAG) Rajesh Maharshi said that they will file a petition in the Supreme Court against the decision of the High Court.
Jaipur was rocked by eight serial bombs on May 13, 2008. The blasts claimed 71 lives and left about 185 people injured. The ATS had named 11 "terrorists" in the case.