Expeditious trial of cases concerning national security is the need of the hour, the Supreme Court said on Thursday while expressing concern over the delay in the trial of the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case. It said the delay compromised ”national interest”.
Thirteen people were killed and 38 injured in the explosion.
In a 190-page judgement, the top court awarded life sentence to four convicts –Mohd Naushad, Mirza Nissar Hussain, Mohd Ali Bhatt and Javed Ahmed Khan– for the remainder of their lives without remission, saying they executed an “international conspiracy” to “destabilise” India by carrying out the blast.
The three-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol said the record reveals it is only on the prodding on the part of the judiciary that the trial could be completed after more than a decade.
”The delay, be it for whatever reason, attributable to the judge in-charge or the prosecution, has certainly compromised national interest. Expeditious trial of such cases is the need of the hour, especially when it concerns national security and the common man. Regrettably, enough vigilance was not displayed by the investigating as well as the judicial authorities,” the bench said.
The top court said a prominent market in the heart of the capital city is attacked and we may point out that it has not been dealt with the required degree of promptitude and attention.
”To our great dismay, we are forced to observe that this may be due to the involvement of influential persons which is evident from the fact that out of several accused persons, only few have been put to trial. In our considered view, the matter ought to have been handled with urgency and sensitivity at all levels,” the bench said.
The top court also noted that the accused persons, who have not faced trial or those against whom the State has not preferred an appeal, prima facie, seem to be a part of this conspiracy.
However, since they are not before us, we refrain from delving into evidence against those persons, it said.
A powerful blast had rocked the bustling Lajpat Nagar market on the evening of May 21, 1996, killing 13 people.
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