Terrorists killing innocents should forget family ties: SC

New Delhi: Rejecting the bail plea of a militant convicted in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar blast case, the Supreme Court on Monday said it would be better for those involved in the killing of innocents to forget their families.

A bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar denied permission for interim bail to alleged Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front (JKIF) militant Mohammad Naushad, who wanted to attend his daughter's marriage on February 28.

"If someone is involved in the heinous offence of indiscriminate killing of innocents, then it's better he forgets his family ties. No parole or interim bail should be granted to them to attend any family exigencies," the bench, also comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul, said.

Naushad, in his plea, had contended that he has been in jail for the past two decades and wanted to attend his daughter's marriage.

JKIF terrorists had triggered explosives kept in a stolen Maruti car setting off a high-intensity blast in the Lajpat Nagar market on May 21, 1996, claiming 12 lives.

A Delhi court had in April 2010 convicted six alleged JKIF militants, awarding death sentence to Naushad, Mohd Ali Bhat alias Kille and Mirza Nissar Hussain, while their fourth accomplice Javed Ahmad Khan alias Chotta Javed was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The High Court had however commuted Naushad's death sentence to life term and acquitted Hussain and Bhat, who were given capital punishment by the trial court. It had upheld the life sentence given to convict Javed Ahmad Khan while slamming police for "serious lapses" in the probe.

The High Court had rebuked the Delhi Police for its failure to adduce even "the minimum standard of proof" and said, "it has shown a casual approach in the case".

The trial court had sentenced two other convicts, Farooq Ahmed Khan and his woman accomplice Farida Dar, who had been held guilty for offences under the Explosive Substances Act and the Arms Act, to imprisonment for seven years and four years and two months respectively.