Patna High Court commutes death sentence of four convicts in Gandhi Maidan bomb blast case to 30-year imprisonment

By Alok Mohit

Patna: The Patna High Court on Wednesday commuted the death sentences of four convicts to 30 years of imprisonment in the Gandhi Maidan bomb blast case 0f 2013, while upholding the life sentences of two others.

A division bench of Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Jitendra Kumar had earlier reserved the judgment after completing the hearings. Pronouncing the modified sentences on Wednesday, the bench commuted the death sentences of Imtiaz Alam, Haider Ali, Numan Ansari, and Mojibullah Ansari to life imprisonment.

The bench, however, upheld the life imprisonment awarded to Mohammad Umer Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureshi by the trial court. “So far as the sentences of … Md Umer Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureshi are concerned, we find that the sentences are condign,” the bench said in its order.

The Gandhi Maidan serial bomb blast incident occurred in Patna on October 27, 2013, during a ‘Hunkar Rally’ organized by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The rally was attended by Narendra Modi, who was then chief minister of Gujarat. At around 9.30 am, the first explosion took place near Sulabh Sauchalaya, a public facility near platform no. 10 of Patna Junction railway station. This was followed by another blast at Gandhi Maidan, the venue for the rally, at around 11.40 am, shortly before Modi’s address. Subsequently, five more blasts occurred in quick succession at the rally venue.

A first information report (FIR) was initially filed at the Gandhi Maidan police station. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case on October 31, 2013, due to its gravity and possible connections to organised terrorist activities.

In 2021, NIA Special Judge Gurvinder Singh Malhotra sentenced nine individuals, including Haider Ali, Numan Ansari, Majibullah Ansari, Umar Siddiqui, Firoz Aslam, and Imtiaz Alam, in connection with the blasts. Four of these convicts – Haider Ali, Imtiaz Alam, Numan Ansari, and Mojibullah Ansari – were given the death penalty. The court also imposed fines of Rs 80,000 on Imtiaz Ansari, and Rs 90,000 each on Haider Ali, Mojibullah Ansari and Numan Ansari.

While modifying the trial court’s order, the high court bench said, “The materials before the trial court were insufficient for to come to a definite conclusion that they (appellants) were beyond reformation. All the four appellants (Imtiaz Alam, Haider Ali, Numan Ansari, and Mojibullah Ansari) are persons of young age with no established trans-border contacts. Their conduct in jail has also not been brought on record. While they were in custody, nothing has come to light which would indicate that they had made it difficult for the investigators to perform with ease. There was no attempt by the appellants at provoking their kindred to take any retaliatory action. For the aforenoted reasons, differing with the assessment of the trial court, we find that a sentence of fixed term of 30 years would suffice and would meet the ends of justice … for all the offences in which death sentence has been imposed upon them,” the bench said.