New Delhi, July 22 -- Stressing that the constitutional guarantee of a fair trial is "absolutely non-negotiable" even in prosecutions involving terrorism and mass casualties, the Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the conviction and death sentence of Abdul Hameed in the 1996 Samleti bus bomb blast case, holding that a conviction carrying capital punishment cannot rest on proceedings where the accused was effectively left to defend himself without legal representation. Fourteen people were killed and 37 injured in the blast on a bus on the Jaipur-Agra Highway on May 22, 1996. The blast came a day after the Lajpat Nagar bomb blast in Delhi, in which 13 people were killed. The Supreme Court judgment leaves the case without any convicted accused for the present, with Hameed facing a fresh trial and all other accused acquitted. In a 183-page judgment, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta held that Hameed, who has spent nearly three decades behind bars and remained under the shadow of the death penalty for almost 12 years, was denied his fundamental right to a fair trial because he had no meaningful legal assistance . "The constitutional guarantee of a fair trial is absolutely non-negotiable and cannot be sacrificed at the altar of practical convenience. The administration of criminal justice is founded not merely upon the objective of securing convictions but equally upon the assurance that every conviction is preceded by a procedure which is fair, just and reasonable," held the bench. The court rejected both the options of affirming the conviction despite the flawed trial and acquitting Hameed outright because of the procedural defect. Instead, it ordered a de novo trial, holding that this alone would cure the constitutional infirmity while allowing the prosecution to prove its case through a legally compliant process. The court requested the Rajasthan High Court's acting chief justice to assign the retrial to a special court in Jaipur headed by a judicial officer with at least seven years' experience in conducting sessions trials and directed the proceedings to be concluded within one year. It ordered that Hameed be represented either by a lawyer of his choice or, if he is unable to engage one, by two experienced lawyers appointed through the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority. All prosecution witnesses are to be recalled so that Hameed gets a "full and effective opportunity" to cross-examine them. After Hameed claimed through counsel that he had remained unrepresented throughout the trial, the bench directed that he be produced through video conferencing from Jaipur Jail. Apart from ordering Hameed's retrial, the Court acquitted co-accused Pappu, who had been serving a life sentence....