A convict serving a life sentence in the 2008 Jaipur serial blasts case has failed to secure relief from the Supreme Court, which has refused to order his release. Mohammad Sarwar Azmi, alias Dhilla Pappu, will continue to serve out his life term in jail after the top court rejected his plea.
What happened in Jaipur in 2008
On May 13, 2008, a series of bomb explosions ripped through different parts of Jaipur, with the explosives planted on bicycles. The blasts killed 71 people and left more than 185 injured, making it one of the deadliest terror attacks in Rajasthan's history. Police arrested several people in connection with the case, who were later put on trial.
A 17-year legal battle
A trial court in Jaipur concluded the case in 2019, convicting the accused and awarding them the death penalty. However, in March 2023, the Rajasthan High Court overturned the trial court's verdict and acquitted all the accused, a decision that came as a severe blow to the families of those who had lost loved ones in the blasts. During the trial, testimony from around 1,293 witnesses had been recorded. The matter reached the Supreme Court against the High Court's acquittal order, and in April 2025, seventeen years after the attack, the top court delivered justice to the victims' families by sentencing four convicts to life imprisonment.
The Supreme Court's latest order
Mohammad Sarwar Azmi, alias Dhilla Pappu, is one of the four men who were handed life sentences by the Supreme Court. Azmi had approached the court seeking release, but the Supreme Court dismissed his plea and made clear that he must serve out his life sentence. The court declined to grant him any relief.
What comes next
A similar plea filed by the convicts had already been rejected in May 2026, when the court made it clear that they would have to serve their life terms in prison. Every year, on the anniversary of the Jaipur blasts, victims' families continue to hope for complete justice, even as the legal process in the case has not entirely come to a close.
