SC sets aside death sentence in 1996 Rajasthan bus blast case

Supreme Court set aside Abdul Hameed's death sentence and conviction in the 1996 Rajasthan bus blast case due to denial of effective legal representation and procedural fairness.

Fourteen people were killed and 37 injured in the blast on a Jaipur-Agra Highway bus on May 22, 1996, a day after the Lajpat Nagar bomb blast in Delhi.

The court ordered a de novo trial to be concluded within one year by a special court in Jaipur, with effective legal representation for Hameed.

Co-accused Pappu alias Salim was acquitted of supplying explosives, leaving no convicted accused in the case currently.

The bench clarified the decision was based on lack of fairness, not on the merits of the prosecution case.