Court upholds minor's 3-year term in Delhi HC blast case

A three-year term at a special home here awarded to the minor convict in the September 2011 Delhi High Court blast case, in which 15 people were killed , was today upheld by a Delhi court that said that he was a part of the conspiracy to carry out the explosion.
Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Pandit upheld the conviction of the minor by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in July 2014 under several sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Explosive Substances Act.
The court, however, acquitted him of the charges of having links with any terror organisation.

"It can be safe to held that JCL convict (juvenile in conflict of law) was a co-conspirator of the conspiracy of the occurrence of blast," it said.
The board had sent the delinquent juvenile to the special home for three years, the maximum punishment that can be awarded under the Juvenile Justice Act. 79 people were injured in the blast.
The sessions court upheld his conviction under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with Sections 121 (waging war against the country), 121A (conspiracy to commit waging war), 122 (collecting arms for waging war), 123 (concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 436 (mischief by explosive substance), and 440 (mischief committed for causing death) of the Indian Penal Code.

It also upheld his conviction under sections 16 (punishment for terrorist act) and 18 (conspiracy for terror act) of UAPA and section 4 (punishment for attempt to cause explosion), 5 (punishment for making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances) and 6 (punishment of abettor) of the Explosive Substances Act.

Then 17-year-old, he was accused of sending an e-mail that
claimed responsibility for the blast and also threatened to cause more bomb blasts at other courts, including the Supreme Court, if Afzal Guru, the Parliament attack convict, was hanged.
The email was sent by the juvenile from Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir, NIA had told the JJB.

A separate trial against adult accused Wasim Akram Malik is being conducted by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here.
After registration of the FIR, the probe in the case was transferred from Delhi Police to NIA.
NIA, during the probe, had unearthed the conspiracy behind the blast and chargesheeted the accused.