The Allahabad High Court has set aside the conviction of a Muslim man in the 1996 Ghaziabad bus bomb blast case, which killed 18 persons, stating that the prosecution had “miserably failed to prove the charges”, Live Law reported.

Mohammad Ilyas was arrested in Punjab’s Ludhiana in June 1997 and has spent 28 years in jail.

In its order on November 10, a division bench of Justices Siddharth J and Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra stated that it was acquitting Ilyas “with a heavy heart” as the “terrorist” attack had “shocked the conscience of society”.

The case pertains to a blast that took place inside a bus on April 27, 1996. In addition to those who died, 48 persons were left injured.

The prosecution had alleged that the attack was carried out by Abdul Mateen, a Pakistani national and alleged district commander of the terrorist group Harkat-ul-Ansar, in conspiracy with Ilyas and a person identified as Tasleem. In 2013, the trial court acquitted Tasleem but convicted Ilyas and Mateen of murder, criminal conspiracy and offences under the Explosive Substances Act, sentencing them to life imprisonment

In its order, the High Court observed that the trial court had committed a “great legal error” by relying on an audio cassette said to contain a...

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