In a significant ruling, the Patna High Court has changed the death sentences of all four convicts involved in the bomb blast at a rally addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gandhi Maidan, Patna, to life imprisonment. The lower court had initially sentenced these four convicts to death. On Wednesday (September 11), the Patna High Court made its crucial decision, converting their death sentences into 30 years of imprisonment. However, the life imprisonment sentences of two other convicts remain unchanged.
The serial bomb blasts occurred on October 27, 2013, during a rally where Narendra Modi was speaking. The accused had challenged the lower court’s verdict in the Patna High Court. An FIR was registered at Gandhi Maidan police station, and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case on October 31, 2013.
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Justice Ashutosh Kumar’s bench delivered the judgment after reviewing the case. The court changed the death sentences of Imtiaz Alam, Haidar Ali, Numan Ansari, and Mojibulla Ansari to life imprisonment.
In 2013, the incident involved multiple bomb explosions, starting with one near a public toilet at Patna Junction’s platform number 10, followed by six other blasts in and around Gandhi Maidan. The blasts resulted in six deaths and 89 injuries. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had promptly requested a NIA investigation after the incident.
The NIA filed a charge sheet in 2014, and 187 witnesses testified in court. The lower court had sentenced the four convicts to death. The convicts then appealed to the Patna High Court, which has now delivered its decision.