Ahemdabad: Nearly 18 years after the devastating Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts that claimed 56 lives and left around 200 people injured, the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday upheld the convictions and sentences awarded by a special trial court in one of India’s most significant terrorism cases. The court confirmed the death penalty for 38 convicts and upheld life imprisonment for the remaining 11.
A Division Bench comprising Justices A. Y. Kogje and Samir Dave delivered the verdict while hearing appeals filed against the 2022 judgment of the special trial court. The High Court’s ruling reaffirms the sentences handed down after an extensive trial involving dozens of accused linked to the terror conspiracy.
The coordinated serial blasts took place on July 26, 2008, when 22 bombs exploded across Ahmedabad, targeting crowded public places including the Civil Hospital, LG Hospital, public buses, parked bicycles, cars, and other locations. The attacks caused widespread panic and devastation, making them one of the deadliest terror strikes in Gujarat’s history. Investigators also recovered two unexploded bombs in Kalol and Naroda, preventing further casualties.
According to the prosecution, the accused were associated with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the Indian Mujahideen, which investigators described as an offshoot of SIMI. The prosecution argued that the bombings were carried out as an act of revenge for the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat and formed part of a larger conspiracy to destabilize the democratically elected government.
The criminal trial, presided over by Special Judge A. R. Patel, concluded in February 2022 after examining evidence related to 35 criminal cases registered in connection with the attacks. These included 20 cases filed in Ahmedabad and 15 in Surat, where unexploded bombs similar to those used in the Ahmedabad blasts were discovered shortly after the attacks.
Out of the 77 individuals tried in the case, 49 were convicted while 28 were acquitted after the court granted them the benefit of the doubt. One of the accused turned approver during the course of the investigation, assisting the prosecution.
Among those whose death sentences have now been upheld, 13 are from Gujarat, eight from Uttar Pradesh, five each from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, two each from Kerala and Karnataka, and one from Hyderabad.
The convicts were found guilty under multiple provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Explosive Substances Act, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), reflecting the gravity and scale of the terror conspiracy.
The High Court’s judgment marks another significant milestone in the prolonged legal proceedings arising from the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts. The case remains one of the country’s most prominent terror prosecutions, highlighting the extensive investigation and judicial process that followed the coordinated attacks which shook Gujarat and the nation.
