New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS): The Supreme Court Wednesday referred, to a larger bench, a Pakistani national's petition challenging his death sentence in the 1997 Karol Bagh bomb blast here in which four people were killed.

The petition by Mohammad Hussain was sent to a larger bench after Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice C.K. Prasad agreed that the trial in the case was not just but differed on the course to correct the wrong and gave a split verdict.

The bomb was planted in a private public transport bus plying on a route between Nangloi in west Delhi and Ajmeri Gate in central Delhi. The explosion took place Dec 30, 1997 at Ram Pura bus stop on Rohtak Road.

While Justice Dattu favoured a trial de novo (fresh trial), Justice Prasad favoured releasing and repatriating the accused to Pakistan as the trial court's verdict holding him guilty and awarding him death sentence and the high court's subsequent endorsement had been set aside.

Justice Dattu said: "I cannot sustain the judgments impugned and they must be reversed and the matter is to be remanded to the trial court with a specific direction that the trial court would assist the accused by employing a state counsel before the commencement of the trial till its conclusion, if the accused is unable to employ a counsel of his own choice."

"Since I am remanding the matter for fresh disposal, I clarify that I have not expressed any opinion regarding the merits of the case," he said.

"Since the incident is of the year 1997, I direct the trial court to conclude the trial expeditiously as possible at any rate within an outer limit of three months from the date of communication of this order and report the same to this court," Justice Dattu ordered.

Justice Prasad said: "Having found that the appellant has been held guilty and sentenced to death in a trial which was not reasonable, fair and just, the next question is as to whether it is a fit case in which direction be given for the de novo trial of the appellant after giving him the assistance of a counsel."

"I have given my most anxious consideration to this aspect of the matter and have no courage to direct for his de novo trial at such a distance of time," he said.

"True it is that in the incident four persons have lost their lives and several innocent persons have sustained severe injuries. Further, the crime was allegedly committed by a Pakistani but these factors do not cloud my reason. After all, we are proud to be a democratic country and governed by rule of law," he said.

The appellant must be seeing the hangman's noose in his dreams and dying every moment while awake from the day he was awarded sentence of death, more than seven years ago, Justice Prasad said.

"I have found his conviction and sentence illegal and the natural consequence of that would be his release from the prison but in the facts and circumstances of the case, I direct that he be deported to his country in accordance with law and till then he
shall remain in jail custody," he said.