Slamming the police for “serious lapses” in its probe into the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case, the Delhi High court on Thursday acquitted two alleged JKIF militants sentenced to capital punishment and commuted the death penalty of the third terrorist to life imprisonment.
A bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and G P Mittal converted Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front terrorist Mohd Naushad’s death penalty to life term, while acquitting Mirza Nissar Hussain and Mohd Ali Bhat alias Kille, who had been given the capital punishment by the trial court.
The bench, however, upheld the life sentence given to Javed Ahmad Khan alias Chotta Javed.
The court rebuked the Delhi Police for its failure to adduce even “the minimum standard of proof” and said “it (police) has shown casual approach in the case.”
“Police has not maintained minimum standard of probe in the case, Test Identification Parade was not conducted, statement of vital witnesses were not recorded. There was also absence of ‘Daily Diary’ entry in the case,” the bench said.
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