More than a decade after the Lucknow civil court blast, two persons accused in the case were on Monday awarded life sentence by a special court here.
Special judge Babita Rani, who heard the case in the district jail, had on August 23 concluded that Azamgarh resident Mohammad Tariq Qasmi and Mohammmad Akhtar, who hails from Ramban in Jammu and Kashmir, were guilty in the attack. U.P. Anti-Terror Squad IG confirmed that the two had been awarded life sentence. The two will also have to pay a fine of ₹6 lakh each.
On November 23, 2007, a blast took place near a banyan tree within the premises of the court, while a live bomb was recovered from a cycle stand. However, no casualties were reported. Similar blasts were reported on the same day in Faizabad and Varanasi. According to the police, the two were allegedly active members of banned terror outfit, HUJI (Harkat-ul-Jihad-ul-Islam).