1998 Coimbatore Serial Bomb Blast Case: Supreme Court refuses to grant bail to the life convicts terming the incident ‘atrocious’

On October 04, 2023, the Supreme Court refused to grant bail to the life convicts involved in the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blast case. The matter was heard by a three-judge bench including Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, Justice C.T. Ravikumar, and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul. The matter heard by the bench revolved around the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blast in which 58 people were killed and over 200 people were injured. The convicts filed a plea seeking to pick up every matter individually and sentences should be awarded accordingly. The bench refused to accept the plea as well as dismissed the possibility of bail. 

During the court proceedings, Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid, who appeared for convicts, submitted “We have been in custody for the last 25 years.” To this, Justice Kaul asked for the count of people who died in the blast. Senior Advocate V. Giri who was opposing the bail of the convicts replied, “58 people died.” Following this, Justice Kaul asked “They have been convicted for something where 58 people have died…What is the sentence imposed?” SA Giri responded “Life sentence…24 blast operations and 250 persons were injured and apart from the lost lives, what they have done to the city is unforgivable.”

After this, another SA appearing for the convicts, R Basant, tried to persuade the bench to keep the bail pleas pending for future consideration rather than dismissing them. However, Justice Kaul said “Bail is out of the 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 at what you have done. 58 people were killed. The nature of crime is an important factor when considering bail. There are concurrent findings by two courts of your guilt. It is an atrocious incident.”

A three-judge bench pronounced the order stating, “Bail applications are dismissed. Let the matter be listed on the regular board in the first week of February.”