1993 Rajdhani blasts: Apex court upholds life term of 10

The Supreme Court has upheld the life term awarded to 10 people under TADA for six incidents relating to planting and carrying out of blasts in Rajdhani Express trains in 1993.

The apex court, however, acquitted 4 others due to lack of sufficient evidence. A bench of Justices F M I Kalifullah and U U Lalit relied upon confessional statements and other evidences collected by the CBI with the arrest of the convicts from different places across the country.

The appeal was filed in the court by as many as 14 accused out of 16 against the order of the designated TADA court in Ajmer in Rajasthan. TADA has since been repealed.

The trial court had held 14 people guilty under various provisions of the TADA and the IPC. One of the 16 accused, Irfan Ahmad, had escaped from custody during the trial, while another claimed juvenility which led to separation of his trial.

A series of bombs blasts had taken place in 6 Rajdhani Express trains across the country on the intervening night of December 5 and 6, 1993 in which two persons were killed and several others injured.

A blast occurred in Rajdhani Express running from New Delhi to Howrah on December 12, 1993, near Kanpur Railway Station in which 2 persons were injured.Another blast took place in the early hours of December 6, in Rajdhani Express running from Howrah to New Delhi in Kanpur division in which no injury had taken place. At about 7:05 am on December 6, 1993, a bomb exploded in AP Express running from Hyderabad to Nizamuddin in the general compartment, while the train was at Moula Ali Railway Station in which 2 persons had died.

A device meant to cause explosion was on the same day detected by a watchful passenger in Bangalore-Kurla Express while the train was near Karjat Railway Station. The device was thrown out of the railway compartment, averting any damage.