AHMEDABAD: Gujarat High Court on Monday confirmed the death sentence for 38 persons in the 2008 serial blasts case, the highest number confirmed by any high court in the history of Independent India. In the order released on Monday, the court cited the gravity of the terrorist attack, the criminal antecedents of the accused, their indictment and conviction in other courts in various states, and their jail conduct which included digging a tunnel in Sabarmati Central Jail for a potential prisonbreak bid as reasons for giving death penalty to the convicts.
HC on July 7 had confirmed death for 38 persons and life imprisonment for 11 others, dismissing appeals by the accused against their conviction for the terror strike that rocked Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008.In a 2,223-page verdict, the bench of Justice A Y Kogje and Justice S J Dave reviewed the cases of each of the convicts on death row and held that aggravating circumstances outweighed mitigating circumstances.The court said the convicts’ participation in the criminal conspiracy, including arranging material, vehicles and cycles, carrying explosives to blast sites and targeting hospitals, warranted capital punishment. Noting the deaths of a doctor couple, Prerak and Kinjal Shah, in the blast at Civil Hospital, it said, “Nothing more can be more shocking than this incident, and the accused cannot escape by maintaining that they were not aware or planned for such catastrophic effect which would warrant nothing less than a capital punishment.”HC said, “Commission of striking terror is extremely cruel and gravest cases of extreme culpability, and the character of perpetrator of crime is wicked and corrupt.”On July 26, 2008, a series of 21 bomb blasts ripped through different areas of Ahmedabad in a span of 70 minutes, killing 56 persons and leaving more than 200 others injured. Explosions also struck hospitals in the city.The HC upheld the 2022 judgment of a special court, which had awarded the death penalty to 38 members of the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) and life imprisonment to 11 others for their role in the serial blasts.A division bench of Justices A Y Kogje and Samir Dave dismissed all appeals challenging the special court’s verdict and confirmed the sentences.. The bench said due process on sentencing was followed and the scale of the conspiracy justified capital punishment. “The court is satisfied that all necessary steps for hearing on sentence have been followed by the special court and all circumstances have been duly considered by the special court while imposing the sentence on the accused. Looking at the gravity of offence, the intention of the accused behind the act and the humongous nature of the conspiracy, this court is of the opinion that the sentence of death penalty deserves to be imposed upon the accused.”The court further stated: “In the facts of our case also, the target group has been Hindu community, as on the basis of evidences of eye witnesses as well as the witnesses to the conspiracy, prosecution has established that the target for this terror act is focused on the locality, predominantly Hindus/non-Muslims and therefore, this act is also striking to the root of an orderly society envisioned under our Constitution.”The HC underscored the case falls in the category of the ‘rarest of the rare’. “There is no doubt in the court’s mind that such consorted attack is an attack on the sovereignty of India with ultimate objective as is even reflected from evidence of witnesses, to topple democratically elected govt, which resulted in the death of 56 persons indiscriminately and injuries to 240 persons without their fault, will take this case in the category of ‘rarest of the rare’.”The high court also upheld the trial court’s observation that there was no scope for reforming the serial blast convicts. “Nothing contrary to such a finding given by the trial court has been controverted, either by any evidence on record or even by pleadings,” the court said. The court also said that the accused being involved in similar anti-national activity shows remorseless conduct.HC mentioned in its order the confessional statements made by the accused persons.One of them, Imran Shaikh, revealed how key accused Safdar Nagori and others exhorted them to undertake mass killing and target the then chief minister Narendra Modi.
