Judgment in a 16-Year-Old case

The court has sentenced to death Waliullah Khan the accused in the sixteen-year-old Varanasi serial bomb blast case in which 28 people were killed.It was on March 7, 2006, two bomb blasts took place shockingly in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh state.

 The Special Investigation Team arrested and charge-sheeted Waliullah Khan a terrorist and a resident of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. The investigation team found that Waliullah Khan was a member of a terrorist out-fit based in Bangladesh. Cases were booked against him under the IPC section of murder, attempt to murder, and mutilation and under the Explosives Act. 

The case was transferred to Ghaziabad Sessions Court by the Allahabad High Court after lawyers in Varanasi refused to fight the case. 121 witnesses were examined by the investigators.
 After sixteen years the trial concluded recently. 

The District Sessions Judge Jitendra Kumar Sinha convicted Khan on June 4 and the quantum of punishment was pronounced on Monday. As the court found Waliullah Khan guilty without  doubt in the two cases against him and he was convicted. He was relieved in the third case due to insufficient evidence.

The punishment was pronounced on Monday at 2.00 pm. Waliullah Khan was sentenced to death in one case and life sentence in the second case. Sixteen years after the serial blast the judgment has been given Even though it was delayed, it is a welcome judgement.