Ahmedabad serial blasts that killed 56 people and injured over 200, handed the death sentence Friday to 38 of 49 convicts. The remaining 11 have been awarded life terms in jail. The 49 were convicted on February 8 by special judge A R Patel who acquitted 38 other accused in the case.
Defence lawyers said the death penalty for 38 convicts is the highest in a single case in the country — in 1998, a TADA court had handed the death sentence to 26 accused in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Those awarded the death sentence had been convicted under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) and provisions of the UAPA.
While the sentencing order has not yet been put in the public domain, the prosecution claimed that the accused planned the serial blasts as “revenge” for the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat and to overthrow a democratically-elected government. Prosecutors said the accused were trying to target elected leaders such as Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister, and other state ministers including Amit Shah, Anandiben Patel, Nitin Patel.
During final arguments, the prosecution said that “by indulging in anti-national terror activities,” the accused are “not even required to be kept in the country’s jail,” and if they are “kept in society, then it will be equivalent to setting loose a man-eating leopard”.
