'96 Lajpat Nagar blast: Convict militant seeks 3 months parole

The Delhi High Court today sought the city police's response on a plea of suspected Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front (JKIF) militant, serving life term in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar blast case, for three months' parole to find a match for his daughter.
Justice Pratibha Rani directed Delhi Police to file its reply on Mohd Naushad's plea, who pleaded that he is in jail for the past 18 years and there is no one in his family to look after his children.
Through his counsel, he also informed the court that his 22-year-old daughter is of marriageable age, so he needs to go out of jail to search for a "perfect match" for her.

The convict also said that in three-months' time he will try to arrange a ceremony and get his daughter married.
The high court in November 2012 had commuted Naushad's death penalty to life term for triggering the 1996 Lajpat Nagar blast here in which 13 people were killed and 38 injured. It acquitted Mirza Nissar Hussain and Mohd Ali Bhat alias Kille, who had been given the capital punishment by the trial court.
The court asked the police to file a status report on Naushad's plea on October 10.

The high court, however, had upheld the life sentence given to third convict Javed Ahmad Khan alias Chotta Javed.

The court gave its verdict, rebuking the Delhi Police for its failure to adduce even "the minimum standard of proof".
A city court had in April 2010 convicted six suspected JKIF militants, awarding death sentence to Mohd Naushad, Mohd Ali Bhatt and Mirza Nissar Hussain while their fourth accomplice Javed Ahmed Khan was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Two others, Farooq Ahmed Khan and his woman accomplice Farida Dar, held guilty for offences under the Explosive Substances Act and the Arms Act, were sentenced to jail term for seven years and four years two months respectively.