SC allows 3-day parole for Lajpat Nagar blast convict

The Supreme Court has granted three-day parole for a life term convict in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar blast case to attend his daughter's marriage.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian allowed a plea by Mohd Naushad, represented by senior advocate Siddhartha Dave and advocate Farrukh Rasheed.

An appeal by Naushad, who has been in jail for 24 years, against the Delhi High Court's 2012 judgement which reduced his trial court's sentence from death penalty to life imprisonment has been pending before the top court.

In his application filed through advocate Rasheed, Naushad, a resident of Delhi's Turkman Gate, sought seven days parole for daughter's marriage scheduled on March 10. He submitted that he has earlier been granted custody parole on nine occasions and his conduct in jail has throughout been found good.

In the order passed on Friday, the top court, however, granted him relief for three days only between March 9 and 11 for the purpose of attending to the marriage of a daughter. In this period, he would be escorted by Delhi police all the time except his stay in the house.

"The police may guard the house or wedding venue from outside, but shall not go inside," the court said.

The 1996 blast at Lajpat Nagar here had claimed the lives of 13 people and left 38 others injured.