After 21 years, the Supreme Court on Friday acquitted 11 people accused of masterminding twin bomb blasts in Surat which killed one person and left several injured.
The decision came as a blow to the Gujarat Police, which had alleged that the 11 people accused in the crime plotted the blasts in 1993 in response to the demolition of the Babri Masjid structure. The apex bench of Justices TS Thakur and C Nagappan dismissed the appeals as it found the State police at fault on two counts. One, the State police was required to obtain permission of DSP rank officer before charging a person under TADA.
This was never done, which served as a crucial factor for the Court to set aside the conviction under TADA for all the 11 accused, sentenced to undergo jail terms ranging from 10 to 20 years. The two blasts had taken place in January 1993 in Varachha area and on the platform number one of Surat railway station. The blast at Varachha had claimed the life of a school girl, Alpa Patel, and wounded 11 others. The blast at the railway station injured around 20 people.
In October 2008, a TADA court in Surat had sentenced five persons, including former Congress Minister Mohammad Surti, to 20 years in prison while others were awarded 10 years jail term in the cases.This is the second consecutive setback to the Gujarat Government. Two months ago, the apex court had acquitted all six people accused in the 2002 Akshardham blasts case. In that decision rendered on May 16 this year, the Court held that the guilt of accused cannot be beyond reasonable doubt. It held that the confessional statements were invalid in law and the prosecution failed to establish the conspiracy plot.