New Delhi , April 22: After a protracted 14-year legal battle, a Delhi court on Thursday awarded the death penalty to three out of six convicted members of the Jammu Kashmir Islamic Front militant outfit for the 1996 Lajpat Nagar market blast in which 13 persons were killed. The court noted that their “dastardly” act fell under the “rarest of rare” category.
Announcing the death sentences for three convicts — Mirza Nissar Hussain alias Naza, Mohammad Naushad and Mohammad Ali Bhatt alias Killey — in a jampacked courtroom, district and sessions judge S.P. Garg said in a 42-page order: “The apparent motive of the convicts was to inflict maximum casualties. It was not mere a desperate act of a small group of persons... the convicts took an active part in a series of steps to pursue the object of the conspiracy.”

The court said: “The gravity of the crime conceived by the convicts with potential of causing enormous casualties as well as disrupting normal life ... is something which cannot be described in words. The incident which resulted in heavy casualties has shaken the entire city, and the collective conscience of society.”
The court also made it clear that nothing can justify such an offence, and that violence in any form was not permissible in any democratic setup.
Refusing to consider any kind of leniency to the convicted persons, the court said: “The convicts do not deserve to be dealt with a lenient view. There cannot be two opinions ... what was perpetrated at Lajpat Nagar market was a most dastardly act... The convicts indulged in the killing of innocent persons without any provocation.”
The court also awarded rigorous imprisonment for life to Javed Ahmed Khan, found guilty of the serious charges of murder, conspiracy and attempt to murder under the Indian Penal Code. Farooq Ahmed Khan and Farida Dar, who were held guilty under lighter penal provisions, were acquitted as the court said the imprisonment they had served during the course of the trial was their punishment.
Pronouncing sentence, the court observed that the participation of convicts in the blast “was not the result of their helplessness, but a well-designed action with their free will to make their part of the contribution to the unholy plan and wicked conspiracy. At no stage they pleaded that they acted under force or domination of someone.”
On April 8, the court had convicted six of the 10 accused and acquitted four others in connection with the 1996 blast.
Describing the police investigation as defective, the court said: “Due to lack of evidence, accused Mirza Ifteqhar Hussain alias Saba, Latif Ahmed Waza, Syed Maqbool Shah and Abdul Gani alias Nikka are acquitted.”
The prosecution said a stolen Maruti car laden with explosives went off at around 6.30 pm on May 21, 1996 in the crowded Central Market at Lajpat Nagar of south Delhi, killing 13 people and injuring 38 others.
Soon after the court pronounced its order, Khalil Ansari, counsel for the convicts, said: “The award of the death penalty was unexpected. We will certainly file an appeal in the Delhi high court against the judgment.”