The Allahabad High Court has overturned the conviction of Mohammad Ilyas in the 1996 Modinagar-Ghaziabad bus bomb blast, holding that the prosecution failed to establish any legally admissible evidence linking him to the attack that killed 18 passengers.
A division bench of Justice Siddharth and Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra set aside the 2013 trial court verdict, remarking that the prosecution had “miserably failed” to prove the charges. In its order delivered on November 10, the bench noted that it was acquitting Ilyas “with a heavy heart” because the attack had “shocked the conscience of society”.
A key pillar of the prosecution’s case was an audio cassette allegedly containing Ilyas’s confession made in the presence of police officers. The bench held that the trial court committed a “great legal error” by relying on this material.
The court reiterated that Section 25 of the Indian Evidence Act bars the use of confessions made to police officers.
“Therefore, in the present case, the confession recorded by the Senior Police Officer will not be permitted to be proved under law due to an embargo created by Section 25,” the judges said.
Once the audio recording was excluded, the bench found that “there is absolutely no evidence against the appellant in support of the charge”.
The court also pointed out that witnesses to the alleged extra-judicial confession of Ilyas and co-accused Tasleem had turned hostile during trial, withdrawing support for the prosecution’s version.
“The witnesses of the extrajudicial confession of the appellant and co-accused regarding their involvement in the offence have turned hostile… and not supported the prosecution’s case,” the bench observed.
The explosion occurred on April 27, 1996, when a bus carrying over 60 passengers left Delhi at 3.55 pm. Minutes after it crossed Modinagar Police Station in Ghaziabad, a powerful blast ripped through the front portion near the driver’s seat, killing 10 people on the spot and injuring 48 others. Forensic analysis later confirmed that RDX mixed with carbon had been placed beneath the driver’s seat and triggered remotely.
Investigators alleged that the attack was plotted by Abdul Mateen alias Iqbal, described as a Pakistani national linked to Harkat-ul-Ansar, along with Ilyas and another accused, Tasleem. Ilyas, according to prosecutors, had been indoctrinated in Jammu and Kashmir.
In 2013, a trial court acquitted Tasleem but convicted Ilyas and Mateen under multiple sections of the IPC and the Explosive Substances Act, sentencing them to life imprisonment along with additional prison terms and fines. No state appeal was filed challenging Tasleem’s acquittal. There is no information on whether Mateen filed an appeal.
With the High Court ruling, Ilyas now stands acquitted of all charges stemming from one of the most devastating terror attacks in the region during the 1990s.
