New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday issued an interim order staying the Delhi High Court’s recent directive for the premature release of life-term convict Md Rashid Khan, who was convicted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act for his central role in the devastating 1993 Bowbazar bomb blast in Kolkata.
A vacation bench comprising Justice PK Mishra and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the stay order after taking note of a petition moved by the West Bengal government challenging the high court’s June 5 judgment. The apex court issued a formal notice to Khan seeking his response within four weeks and scheduled the matter for further hearing on July 28, observing that failing to grant an interim stay would render the state’s appeal entirely infructuous if the convict were released in the interim. The bench strongly pushed back against the early release, categorizing the crime as an act of terror and noting that Khan functioned as the calculated mastermind behind the tragedy.
The legal battle stems from a judgment by a single-judge bench of the Delhi High Court, which had ordered the immediate release of the 77-year-old convict on the grounds of the reformative theory of criminal jurisprudence. The high court had observed that Khan had completed over 33 years of incarceration since his arrest in March 1993, maintained excellent prison conduct, and posed a very low risk of repeating the offence due to advanced age and multiple medical infirmities, including diabetes and cataracts. However, the West Bengal government strongly contested this view before the apex court, arguing that the State Sentence Review Board had repeatedly recommended against his release due to the sheer gravity of the crime and its profound societal impact.
Appearing for the state, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju reminded the court of the horrific scale of the March 16, 1993 incident, in which a massive illegal cache of explosives stockpiled by Khan detonated in a crowded Kolkata locality, killing 69 people, injuring over 100 others, and causing the total collapse of two residential buildings. Defending the convict, senior advocate MR Shamshad pleaded for judicial leniency, emphasizing Khan’s clean track record during multiple paroles and pointing out that a co-accused, Pannalal Jaiswara, had already been granted remission in 2014. The Supreme Court bench rejected the parity argument, clarifying that both individuals played vastly different roles in the conspiracy, with Khan acting as the prime architect of the blast.
