Church blasts case: SC rejects interim bail plea by convicts

Bengaluru: The interim bail plea by two life-term convicts in the Karnataka Church blasts case has been rejected by the Supreme Court.

While hearing the case, the bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Ajay Rastogi, and Aniruddha Bose said though the detention period had been fairly long, it was not possible to release them due to the nature of offenses against them. However, in case of some special circumstances arising, the appellants are permitted to revive the prayer for bail.

A series of blasts at various churches in Bengaluru, Hubballi and Kalaburagi in 2000.

One of the accused, Syed Shamshuzama in his bail plea contended he had been behind the bars for 19 years and the appeal filed by him and others was unlikely to come up for hearing in the near future.

In another bail plea, the mother of convict Sheik Fardeen Valli alias Fareed submitted that he has been in custody since July 16, 2000. She sought interim bail for him on humanitarian grounds as his father was on death bed and suffered from 86% permanent disability.

The Church bombings refer to the serial bombings of churches in the southern Indian states of Karnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh by the Islamist extremist group Deendar Anjuman in the year 2000.