Chandigarh, August 28
Four years after Hindu leader Swami Aseemanand was arrested in the Samjhauta blast case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today granted him bail.

Aseemanand was charged for his role in the Samjhauta Express link train blast that took place on February 18, 2007, at Diwana village near the industrial town of Panipat.

In all, 68 people were killed in the ensuing fire and many more were injured. Most of the victims were Pakistani civilians. Earlier this year, a Special Court at Panchkula framed murder, sedition and other charges against Aseemanand and three others.

As the case came up for resumed hearing before the High Court this afternoon, Justice SS Saron and Justice Lisa Gill granted him bail after it was argued that Swami was in custody for the past four years and there were around 300 witnesses in the case, including Pakistan. It would, under the circumstances, take years to complete the examination of all witnesses.

Senior BJP leader-cum-advocate Satya Pal Jain appeared on behalf of Aseemanand, who had been contending that there was no evidence with the prosecution to establish the case against him. “Keeping him in custody for so long will be injustice to him. He deserved to be released on bail,” the court was told.