1998 Coimbatore serial blast case: SC denies bail to convicts for "atrocious" crime
Oct 04, 2023
New Delhi [India], October 4 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday while calling the 1998 Coimbatore bomb blast incident that killed 58 people and left 250 injured, "atrocious", dismissed the bail pleas of some of the convicts.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, CT Ravikumar and Sudhanshu Dhulia said, "They have been convicted for something in which 58 people had died. Bail is out of the question."
The order of the apex court came on the application filed by some of the convicts seeking bail.
While dismissing the bail plea, the bench said the appeals filed by the convicts challenging the Madras High Court verdict upholding their conviction and sentence be listed for the first week of February 2024.
As the advocate appearing for the convicts, while pleading for bail, said they have been awarded life imprisonment and have been in custody for the last around 25 years, the bench asked him, "How many people died?"
When the counsel said 58 people had died, the apex court observed, "Look at what you have done. 58 people were killed. The nature of crime is an important factor when considering bail. There are concurrent findings by two courts of your guilt. It is an atrocious incident."
Counsel appearing for the Tamil Nadu government said apart from killing so many people, what the convicts had done to the city was "unforgivable".
As many as 58 persons were killed and 250 had suffered injuries when 19 bomb explosions rocked Coimbatore city in Tamil Nadu between February 14 and 17, 1998.
The improvised explosive devices, with time delay mechanisms, had been placed in cars, two-wheelers, abandoned bags, push carts, tea cans and so on.
The Madras High Court in its verdict in December 2009 on the appeals filed by those convicted by the trial court, had said February 14, 1998, was a day of "unimaginable terror and horror as bombs continuously exploded in the city of Coimbatore".
Of the 166 accused in the case, the trial court in August 2007 pronounced 69 persons guilty of different offences.
