Patna HC Commutes Death Sentence of Four Convicts in Modi Rally Serial Blasts Case

Patna: The Patna High Court has commuted capital punishment awarded to four convict of serial blasts during the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Hunkar rally in Patna on October 27 in 2013, to life imprisonment, after considering their young age and plea of right to live. The blasts had taken place in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan just before the then Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was to address a rally. Six people were killed in serial blasts.

A bench of Justice Ashutosh Kumar commuted the death sentence awarded to the four convicted persons – Imtiaz Ansari, Numan Ansari, Haider Ali and Moziullah Ansari - to life imprisonment. Special public prosecutor in the case Manoj Kumar Singh reportedly said that the court commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment considering their young age and their right to live.

The four of them were sentenced to death in 2021 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court in Patna in the case related to serial blasts. In the same case, the court had awarded life imprisonment to two other convicts, 10 years imprisonment to two more and seven years imprisonment to one. Nine of ten accused were convicted in the case.

The lawyer of accused Imran Ghani said that he challenged the NIA special court’s verdict in the Patna high court and the honourable court has commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment and upheld the life imprisonment of two others. “We will challenge the Patna high court’s verdict in the Supreme Court soon”.

Few days after the serial blasts, Modi had visited the family of four of the six people killed and interacted with them at their native villages. The victims’ families were promised government jobs by Modi. But so far, reportedly, this promise has not been fulfilled leaving the families disappointed.

According to NIA probe report, the serial blasts were engineered by the banned SIMI and Indian Mujahideen.