NEW DELHI: Supreme Court Wednesday acquitted a man accused in the 1996 Rajasthan bomb blast case after finding no evidence against him, though he had already spent 23 years in jail. The court found the prosecution case against him “to be woefully wanting and lacking in merit” and directed his release.A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta said there was no evidence against him, and the trial court and Rajasthan high court wrongly convicted him on the basis of his confessional statements, “which themselves suffer from serious infirmities”, and the police failed to place any independent and reliable material against him.In this case, only two accused were convicted – the main accused, Dr Abdul Hameed, was awarded a death sentence, and this man, Pappu, alias Salim, was given life imprisonment.As Hameed was not given proper legal aid to defend himself, SC quashed his conviction and ordered a fresh trial against him but acquitted Salim on merit for lack of evidence.Hameed has remained in jail for the last 29 years. Salim, however, was released on parole during pendency of the case when he completed 23 years in jail.
