Convict gets death sentence
GHAZIABAD: A local court on Monday gave death penalty to Mohammad Waliullah, who on Saturday was convicted in the 2006 Varanasi serial blasts case .
At least 18 people were killed and over 100 wounded in twin blasts at the Sankat Mochan temple and Varanasi Cantonment railway station within a span of 15 minutes on the evening of March 7, 2006. Explosives were recovered on the same day near the Jammu railway crossing, but were diffused in time.
The explosion in the temple complex killed seven people. There were no “light circumstances” against the convict, said district and sessions judge Jitendra
Kumar Sinha. The crime was among the rarest of rare, the court observed while awarding the death penalty.
“Convict Waliullah is punished with death under IPC Section 302 (murder) and a penalty of ₹50,000 is also imposed. He should be hanged till he dies. However, the punishment will not be executed till the time it is confirmed by the Allahabad high court,” Sinha said in his judgement delivered in connection with the bomb blast case related to Sankat Mochan temple.confirmation by the high court is a procedure for all death sentences awarded by the lower courts.
Waliullah was acquitted last week in regard to the bomb blast at the Varanasi Cantonment railway station.
On the day of the incident, the first blast took place at the Sankat Mochan temple near the Banaras Hindu University around 6.15pm, where thousands of devotees had assembled to offer prayers. About 20 minutes later, another bomb exploded in the waiting room at the Cantonment station, where the Delhi-bound Shiv Ganga Express was at the platform.
“He was charged with murder, attempt to murder and other
Indian Penal Code sections, besides the provisions of the Explosives Act in the cases related to bomb blast near the Sankat Mochan temple. The court on Monday awarded him death penalty in the case besides handing out other punishment,” said Rajesh Chand Sharma, district government counsel.
“We will appeal before the high court in connection with the cases, including the one in which he has been awarded death penalty,” said Mahesh Chand, one of the lawyers representing Waliullah .
The convict faced trial in three cases on the basis of six complaints registered at the Lanka and Dashashwamedh police stations and the Government Railway Police precinct in Varanasi, lawyers in Ghaziabad said.