Lawyers of 49 convicts, 38 of them sentenced to death and 11 others to life-long imprisonment in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts case, said they will approach the Gujarat High Court against a special court’s verdict pronouncing them guilty.
“The verdict was mainly based on circumstantial evidence, four statements given by the accused under section 164 of the CrPC and the statement of an approver. I believe that the court should have discarded such evidence. But since the verdict has come, it is natural that those who were convicted will approach the High Court against the verdict,” HM Sheikh, one of the defence lawyers said to PTI.
A special court designated for the speedy trial of the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts case on Friday sentenced 38 of the 49 convicts to death under provisions of UAPA and IPC 302. The 11 others were sentenced to life imprisonment until death.
All 49 convicts are Muslims hail from different states in India. This is the highest number of convicts to be sentenced to death in a single case in India’s legal history.
“The judgement runs into over 7,000 pages and is yet to be made available to us. We will plan the future course of action after studying the judgement in the coming days,” Sheikh added.
Abdul Kareem, father of Shibili and Shaduli -both are sentenced to death- said to reporters that the court verdict is unbelievable. “We will go for appeal. We hope, we will get justice,” Kareem, a resident of Kerala said.
“We had sought lenient sentences for the convicts as they have already spent more than 13 years in prison,” another lawyer Khalid Shaikh told Reuters news agency. “But the court awarded death to the majority of them. We will definitely go for appeal.”
On 8 February, the Special Judge, AR Patel had declared 49 of the total 78 accused as guilty under various offences of the Indian Penal Code, including for murder, sedition and waging war against the state, as well as under offences of the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosive Substance Act. While delivering verdict after 13 years of trial, the Judge had also declared 28 of the total 78 accused as acquitted. 11 of the 28 acquitted are out of jail as of date, while the 17 others continue to be in judicial custody owing to their requirement in other criminal cases.
As many as 22 bombs went off in Ahmedabad on 26 July 2008, killing 56 persons and leaving around 200 injured.
In emails that were sent to some media houses, the Indian Mujahideen, an organisation that had not been heard of until then, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
