The Supreme Court on Thursday awarded life sentence to four convicts of the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case for the remainder of their lives without remission, citing the severity of the offence. Thirteen people were killed and nearly 40 injured in the explosion. Expressing concern over the delay in hearing of the case, a three-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol said expeditious trial of such cases is the need of the hour, especially when it concerns national security and the common man.