The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Delhi High Court’s recent order for premature release of Md Rashid Khan – a life-term convict under TADA in the 1993 Bowbazar blast case in Kolkata in which around 70 people were killed and multiple residential buildings destroyed.Khan — who had been in jail for more than 33 years — was on June 5 allowed to be released by the Delhi High Court in view of his long period of incarceration, prison conduct and the reformative philosophy underlying premature release of convicts.Triggered by a massive cache of explosives stockpiled by Khan, the March 16, 1993 Bowbazar blast claimed 69 lives and destroyed several residential buildings, barely four days after the Mumbai serial blasts in which 257 people died and over 1,400 were left injured.Acting on a petition filed by the West Bengal government challenging the Delhi High Court’s order, a Bench of Justice PK Mishra and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva passed an interim order staying Khan’s premature release. It also issued a notice to Khan on the state’s petition.”Notice. In the meanwhile, the impugned order to be stayed,” the Bench said, posting the matter for July 28.The West Bengal government contended that the Sentence Review Board had recommended against the release of Khan – a convict under the Terrorist and Disruptive Acts Prevention Act (TADA) but despite that the high court ordered his premature release.The top court’s order on Tuesday came after Additional Solicitor General SV Raju submitted that around 70 people had died in the bombing and over 100 were injured as two buildings collapsed due to the explosions.On behalf of Khan, senior advocate MR Shamshad contended that he was not convicted of murder and that he suffered from various ailments,He said Khan has been in prison for 33 years and that his conduct has been excellent. “He has come out many times and gone back,” Shamshad submitted. As Shamshad said that co-accused Pannalal Jaiswara has already been given remission in 2014, the Bench pointed out that they have different roles in the crime.The Bench chose to stay the high court’s order, saying his role was that of a mastermind and that his mind was fully functional. “This is almost terrorist activity… If we don’t grant interim relief (stay) and he is released in between then this will become infructuous,” it said.While ordering Khan’s premature release, the high court had said, “It has been held that reformation should be the dominant objective of a punishment and during incarceration, every effort should be made to recreate the good man out of a convicted prisoner.”