Bowbazar blast: Bomb-maker on life term appeals for release
Times of India | 14 May 2024
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Monday stayed till June 24 the single bench order directing the West Bengal State Sentence Review Board (SSRB) to consider the release of life convict Md Khalid, the bomb-maker in the 1993 Bowbazar blast case in which 69 people were killed. Six persons, including satta don Rashid Khan, were sentenced for life by the Calcutta High Court under the provisions of the Terrorist and Disruptive (Prevention) Act (TADA).The powerful blast had reduced an entire building on BB Ganguly Street into rubble.
While Khan, along with four others, has been in jail for the past 31 years, one of the convicts was released under the provisions of the West Bengal Correctional Services Act after he turned blind. Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam held that getting a remission was not a fundamental right of the convict prisoner. The division bench wanted to examine all the aspects of the case, including what impact the proposed premature release of the convict would have on the community. “Since fine questions of law are required to be considered and any decision will have precedential value. Further, we take note of the fact that there are other four convicts in the case. Therefore, there will be a stay on the operative part of the judgment of the single-judge,” the chief justice ordered.
The state appealed to the division bench on Monday against the single bench order. Advocate general Kishore Datta pleaded that despite positive reports from the jail superintendent and the chief probation-cum-aftercare officer about the conduct of the convict in jail, the Kolkata Police objected to the premature release of the convict in view of the “severity of crime”.
Datta said Khalid used to make nitro-glycerine based bombs and grenades on the instructions of Rashid Khan to create terror in the Bowbazar locality.