“You May Be Inside For 25 Years But 58 People Lost Their Lives" : Supreme Court Denies Bail To Convicts In Coimbatore Blast Case

The present matter, which revolved around 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blasts in which 58 people were killed and over 200 others injured, was heard by a bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sudhanshu Dhulia and C.T. Ravikumar.

Terming the crime “atrocious”, the bench refused to accept convicts’ plea that each matter should be picked up individually and sentences should be awarded accordingly. Further, it also outrightly dismissed the possibility of bail.

At the outset, Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for convicts submitted, "We have been in custody for the last 25 years."

At this, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul enquired, "How many people died?"

"58 people died", replied Senior Advocate V. Giri, who was opposing the bail.

"They (convicts) have been convicted for something where 58 people have died….What is the sentence imposed?", Justice Kaul asked.

"Life sentence….24 blasts operation and 250 persons were injured and apart from the lost lives, what they have done to the city is unforgivable." Giri replied.

Senior Advocate R Basant, appearing for one of the convicts, tried persuading the Bench to not dismiss the bail pleas but rather keep them pending for consideration on a future date.

However, Justice Kaul categorically stated:  "Bail is out of question. All of us are unanimous that the bail cannot be granted...You may be inside for 25 years but 58 people lost their lives in this incident. That is good enough a reason for you to remain inside."

Justice Dhulia added,  "Look what you have done…. The nature of the crime is an important factor."

"Bail applications are dismissed. Let the matter be listed on the regular board in the first week of February.", the bench pronounced.

Brief background

On February 14, 1998, Coimbatore was subjected to the most devastating attack of terrorist bombings Tamil Nadu has ever witnessed.

The first of the serial bombs on February 14 exploded at 3.50 p.m. on Shanmugham Road in R.S. Puram, barely 100 metres from the venue of an election meeting that was to be addressed by the then Bharatiya Janata Party president L.K. Advani. Over the next 40 minutes, blasts were reported on West Sambandam Road, Gani Rowther Street at Ukkadam, at a textile showroom on Big Bazaar Street, a shopping complex near the main bus stand at Gandhipuram, the vehicle parking lot at the Coimbatore Junction railway station, the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), a travel agency (owned by a local BJP leader) on V.K.K. Menon Road, a jewellery shop on Oppanakara Street, a BJP election office at Ratnapuri near Sivananda Colony and a temple at Kurichikulam.

Of the 166 accused in the case, the trial court in August 2007 pronounced 69 persons guilty of different offences. In December 2009, the Madras high court upheld the convictions of 18 people, 17 life terms and one 13-year term in the blast case. The bench acquitted 22 people of all charges for want of sufficient evidence. Most of the life term convicts approached the Supreme Court in appeal.

Case Title: MOOSA @ TADA MOOSA @ MOOSA MOHIDEEN AND ANR v. Versus THE STATE REP. BY THE AD.S.P.SIT CBCID, Crl.A. No. 1205-1208/2011