Patna HC acquits man awarded death penalty in Ara court blast case
Patna: The Patna high court on Thursday acquitted Lambu Sharma, who had been awarded the death sentence in connection with a bomb blast that took place on the premises of Ara civil court on Jan 23, 2015, killing a constable on duty and severely injuring more than a dozen people, including police personnel and lawyers.
A division bench comprising chief justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad also acquitted six other convicts — Shyam Vinay Sharma, Rinku Yadav, Md Naim Miyan, Md Chand Miya, Anshul Kumar and Akhilesh Upadhyaya aka Musa — who had been awarded rigorous imprisonment for life in the same bomb blast case.
On Aug 17, 2019, a trial court of the 3rd additional sessions judge, Bhojpur, had held Lambu and seven others guilty in the bomb blast case. By its order dated Aug 20, 2019, Lambu was awarded capital punishment while the remaining seven were given rigorous imprisonment for life. One of the convicts, Pramod Singh, died in prison during the Covid pandemic.
In their 174-page judgment, the two judges lauded the efforts of advocate Prateek Mishra, who assisted the high court as amicus curiae (friend of the court) and argued in defence of the convicts. The court also marked the case as a precedent in setting out the role of an amicus curiae, who can also interact with convicts to understand their case.
A division bench comprising chief justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad also acquitted six other convicts — Shyam Vinay Sharma, Rinku Yadav, Md Naim Miyan, Md Chand Miya, Anshul Kumar and Akhilesh Upadhyaya aka Musa — who had been awarded rigorous imprisonment for life in the same bomb blast case.
On Aug 17, 2019, a trial court of the 3rd additional sessions judge, Bhojpur, had held Lambu and seven others guilty in the bomb blast case. By its order dated Aug 20, 2019, Lambu was awarded capital punishment while the remaining seven were given rigorous imprisonment for life. One of the convicts, Pramod Singh, died in prison during the Covid pandemic.
In their 174-page judgment, the two judges lauded the efforts of advocate Prateek Mishra, who assisted the high court as amicus curiae (friend of the court) and argued in defence of the convicts. The court also marked the case as a precedent in setting out the role of an amicus curiae, who can also interact with convicts to understand their case.
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