Rajasthan to appeal in SC against 2008 Jaipur serial blast case acquittal: CM

The Rajasthan government will file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the high court’s decision to acquit the accused in the 2008 Jaipur serial blasts case, chief minister Ashok Gehlot said on Saturday. The decision was taken in a high-level meeting chaired by Gehlot at his residence in Jaipur late on Friday night. The state government has also decided to terminate the services of additional advocate general Rajendra Yadav, who was appointed to appear in this case.

On Wednesday, The Rajasthan high court acquitted all the accused in the 2008 Jaipur serial blast, which killed 71 people, and injured over 180, due to lack of evidence and lapse in investigation.

Gehlot said that the Rajasthan high court has acquitted all the accused, overturning the 2019 district court verdict. “It is the intention of the state government that the culprits should be given the harshest punishment, therefore the state government will soon file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the decision of the high court.”

Chief secretary Usha Sharma, principal secretary (home) Anand Kumar, director general of police (DGP) Umesh Mishra, additional director general (ADG) Special Operations Group (SOG)- Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Ashok Rathore, ADG (crime) Dinesh MN, ADG (intelligence) S Sengthir, principal government secretary (law) Gyan Prakash Gupta and secretary home (law) Ravi Sharma were also present in the meeting.

The high court in its judgement observed that the investigating agency lacked the required legal skills as they were not aware about the statutory pre-requisites and mandatory requirements. “They have approached this case in a callous manner, which is unbecoming of the members of uniformed posts. The approach of the Investigation Agency was plagued by insufficient legal knowledge, lack of proper training and insufficient expertise of investigation procedure, especially on issues like cybercrimes and even basic issues like admissibility of evidence. The failure on the part of the Investigation Agency has frustrated the case of the prosecution and the evidence so recorded is not fulfilling the chain of evidence,” the court said.

“We hold that the Investigation Agency in the given case should be made responsible/accountable for their negligent, cursory and inefficient actions. In the given case, for the reasons stated above, in spite of the case being of heinous nature, 71 persons losing their lives and 185 persons sustaining injuries, causing unrest in the lives of every citizen, not just in the city of Jaipur, but all across the country, we deem it appropriate to direct the Director General of Rajasthan Police to initiate appropriate Enquiry/Disciplinary Proceedings against the erring officers of the Investigating Team,” it added.