SC orders release of four men acquitted in Jaipur blast case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of four people who were acquitted by the Rajasthan high court earlier this year in connection with the 2008 Jaipur serial blasts if their detention was not required in any other case.

A bench of justices Abhay Okra and Rajesh Bindal also refused to stay the high court’s acquittal, as it heard two special leave petitions (SLPs) filed by families of the deceased and the state government against the order.

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On March 29, the high court had acquitted four people – Mohammad Saif (32), Mohammad Sarvar (36), Saif-Ur-Rahman (36) and Salman (34) – who were given capital punishment by a trial court in 2019. They are, however, yet to be released.

On Wednesday, as the state, represented by Attorney General (AG) of India R Venkataramani, argued for the continued arrest of the accused under Section 390 (arrest of accused in appeal from acquittal) of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the court said such a drastic action cannot be taken without hearing the accused.

“Even assuming that you (AG) are right, before passing such a drastic order, we will have to go through the evidence, we will have to consider the issue a prima facie case, otherwise it is a serious order to pass that after acquittal, persons will remain in custody till disposal of the appeal. Therefore, we have to apply our mind to the merit of the case,” the bench said.

Advocate Aditya Jain, who appeared for the victims’ families, said the top court had said the accused could be let off on conditional bail in case they are not wanted in other cases. “However, they are wanted in other cases,” he said.

Setting down the bail conditions, the Supreme Court said the accused are required to submit their passports to the state government and also comply with the high court’s order on bail bonds. The bench also said the Rajasthan government can move an application if the accused fail to appear before the state anti-terrorism squad whenever summoned.

The bench said the accused will have to appear at their respective police stations daily between 10am and 12pm. It further said that the high court order cannot be used by the accused to secure bail in other cases. The court fixed August 9 as the next date of hearing before a full bench headed by the CJI DY Chanchachud.

Seventy-one people were killed and 185 were injured after nine ammonium nitrate bombs strapped to bicycles went off within a span of 25 minutes – between 7.20pm and 7.45pm – in the crowded areas of Jaipur on May 13, 2008. One live bomb was recovered near Ramchandra Temple which was defused by a bomb disposal squad. Terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) had claimed responsibility for the blasts.

The trial in the case began in December 2008 and a total of four charge sheets were filed against five people, the last of these in 2011. In 2019, the trial court in Jaipur acquitted one of the accused and sentenced the remaining four to death.

On March 29 this year, the high court acquitted all four people in the case. It also slammed probing agencies over their “shoddy investigation” in the case.

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The apex court directed the state government to furnish records of the trial court within eight weeks, Jain said.

In the SLPs, the families of the deceased alleged that the accused were wrongly acquitted by the high court. The SLPs were filed by Rajeshvari Devi and Abhinav Tiwari.

A Rajasthan government official, who did not wish to be named, said the state will submit all documents before the next hearing.