Two get life term, one acquitted in 2007 twin bomb blasts in Faizabad court

A special anti-terror court has sentenced two persons to life imprisonment for their alleged roles in the November 2007 twin blast case in the district court premises here in which five people were killed and 24 were injured.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Ashok Kumar, heading the special court set up under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, pronounced the quantum of sentence amid tight security in the special courtroom in the Faizabad jail.

"The special court sentenced two persons to life imprisonment and acquitted one on Friday in the 2007 district court serial blast case," Faizabad Bar Association president Vijay Bahadur Singh told PTI on Saturday.

The two who were sentenced are tariq Quasim and Mohammad Akhtar while the third accused in the case, Sajjad Ur Rahman, was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

A fourth accused, Khalid Mujahid, had died in the police custody under suspicious conditions.

Twelve years ago on November 23, 2007, the Faizabad district court had been rocked by two simultaneous bomb blasts in which five people, including a lawyer, were killed and 24 others were injured, seven of them critically.

The case was lodged on the complaint of erstwhile Faizabad Bar Association secretary Mansur ILahi and the case was probed by the anti terrorist squad of Uttar Pradesh police.

The police had nabbed four persons for their alleged involvement in the case. It had sent up three of them, barring one who died in police custody, for the trial in the case.

The trial in the case was held in a courtroom in Faizabad jail premises as the Fiazabad district bar association had decided neither to represent any of the accused in the blast case, nor let any other lawyer represent them.

This had led the erstwhile Chief Minister Mayawati to arrange for the trial in the jail premises to ensure security of lawyers representing the accused.