In a very bone chilling verdict, a Special Court in Ahmedabad on February 18, 2022 awarded the death penalty to 38 convicts, sentenced 11 others to rigorous life imprisonment in the case, acquitted 28 accused and pardoned one accused named Ayaz Saiyed of Ahmedabad who had turned approver in 2019 pertaining to the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts which had claimed 56 lives and left over 200 injured. It must be mentioned here that the pronouncement of the quantum of punishment in this bone chilling verdict delivered by Justice AR Patel came nearly 14 years after the deadly blasts. It also needs to be noted that the court had convicted 49 persons and acquitted 28 others in the case and of the 28 acquitted, 13 were initially expected to be released immediately as they were not required in judicial custody in relation to any other case. But then we saw how two of the 13 were sent to judicial custody by an Ahmedabad magisterial court in relation to a jail misdemeanor case of 2016. We also saw how the Sabarmati Central Jail authorities had moved an application following their acquittal.
In addition, we saw how the Court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.85 lakh on 48 convicts and of Rs 2.88 lakh on another one. The Court also awarded a compensation of Rs one lakh to the families of those who died in the blasts, Rs 50,000 to those who were seriously injured and Rs 25,000 to those who received minor injuries. The Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the families of the victims and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced Rs 1 lakh as compensation. It cannot be denied that no amount of compensation can ever compensate the innumerable woes that the ghastly terror attack wrecked on these affected families who lost their near and dear ones in it.
Among the victims were Dr Prerak Shah and his pregnant wife Kinjal who had come to the hospital for Kinjal’s medical check-up. Prerak’s father Ramesh Shah who is a resident of Modasa town said that, “I welcome this verdict. However, I feel all the 49 guilty persons should have been given the death penalty.” Jagdish Kadia who used to sell sandwiches on his cart in Raipur Chakla area of the old city lost his wife Hasumati Kadia in a blast that occurred near his cart said that, “I remember my wife everyday and have been living a lonely life since then. I strongly believe even the 11 who were given life imprisonment must be hanged.”
In retrospect, this alone explains why my best friend in life Sageer Khan had also once said way back in 1993 in Sagar in Madhya Pradesh most angrily that, “There should be nothing but only and only death penalty and nothing else for all those who are involved in terror attacks in any way whatsoever. No life, no parole, no bail, no jail but only death, death and nothing but only death which means to be hanged till death. The day you become a Judge which I am sure you will become one fine day then pardon a rapist or a dacoit or a robber or a murderer but never ever in life pardon a terrorist. If you will spare I will never talk with you but I am sure that Inshah Allah you will never spare them under any circumstances whatsoever! I say so because a rapist or a dacoit or a robber or a murderer never goes to Pakistan or any other foreign country to get the best possible rigorous training on how to rape or commit dacoity or robbery or murder or any other crime except terrorist who are trained like best commandos fully determined to kill innocents and to destroy India for which they are fully armed to the teeth by all those who are inimical to India. Also, a rapist or a dacoit or a robber or a murderer or any other ordinary criminal adversely affects either one or few persons but the case of terrorists is quite different because their aim is to destroy not just one or few individuals but our entire nation as a whole. Who can carry out nuclear attack on our country? Rapists for whom our MPs keep demanding death penalty every now and then? No, only and only terrorists with whom our politicians enjoy holding talks and dialogues, declaring ceasefire with them, releasing them out of turn, appointing senior IAS officers and ministers to hold talks with them and extending them all such privileges as are accorded to foreign dignitaries. I think they do this under pressure from some rogue countries like US and UK who had engineered the partition of India and who never want India to become peaceful, powerful and prosperous. Always remember that US and UK are the worst enemies of India and abet, aid and arm Pakistan to the teeth for this very sinister purpose to destroy India completely.”
Anil Bakshi who is a very senior and a very eminent criminal advocate who is the former President of Meerut Bar and former Member of UP Bar Council said when Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab was sentenced to death that, “Law is for those who believe in the law of the nation. Not for those who don’t believe in law. Such people should be shot as soon as they are met. There should be no involvement in any legal procedure as it results in loss of time and money of nation. I would even say that all such terrorists who have been awarded death penalty must be immediately hanged.”
In hindsight, it may be recalled that as many as 22 explosions had ripped through the various spots in Ahmedabad city including at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-run LG Hospital in buses, on parked bicycles and in cars on July 26, 2008 within a span of 70 minutes killing 56 and injuring 200. The bombs planed at Kalol and Naroda did not go off. It deserves mentioning here that the Public Prosecutor Arvind Patel told the reporters that, “In the over 7,000-page judgment, the Court had termed the case as the ‘rarest of rare’ and ordered that the 38 convicts in the case be hanged till death, while 11 others were awarded life imprisonment till death.” To read a judgment of 7000 pages is certainly a very tough ordeal!
According to Gujarat DGP Ashish Bhatia, the then Joint Commissioner of Police in Ahmedabad’s Crime Branch, the bombs were improvised placed, along with gas cylinders, in cars stolen from Pune and Mumbai. It is worth noting that the bombs that went off had a cocktail of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO). In emails sent to some media houses, the Indian Mujahideen (IM) claimed responsibility for the Ahmedabad blasts and previous serial bombings in Jaipur (May 2008) and Bengaluru (July 2008). The mails had claimed that the bombings were carried out in revenge for the 2002 Gujarat riots and the Babri Masjid demolition. In the police investigation that was done it was found that the IM was nothing but just a regrouping of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
In its investigation, Gujarat Police unearthed a nationwide network of radical elements involved in the blasts. The State Government had transferred the investigation to the Ahmedabad crime branch under the supervision of the then Joint Commissioner of Police Ashish Bhatia who is now serving as the Gujarat Director General of Police. Ashish called it a landmark judgment. CR Paatil who is Gujarat BJP Chief said that, “The court has set a strict precedent with this judgment.”
Be it noted, the trial in this leading case began in December 2009 and concluded in September 2021. The Court merged 20 First Information Reports (FIR) in Ahmedabad and 15 in Surat. The prosecution examined at least 1100 witnesses and marked 26 as star witnesses whose identities were concealed for their safety. A total of nine different Judges presided over the case. AR Patel who has delivered this notable judgment started hearing the case on June 14, 2017.
It certainly cannot be dismissed lightly that the defence lawyers said that this is the highest number of death sentences in a single trial in India after independence. It may be recalled that it was way back in 1998 that a TADA trial court had sentenced 26 to death for former PM Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. It cannot be glossed over that it was in 1999 that the Supreme Court had acquitted 19 of them and upheld the death sentence for four of the others.
It must be also mentioned here that those awarded the death sentence had been convicted under IPC Sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) and provisions of the UAPA. They include Safdar Nagori who is leader of the SIMI and who had been sentenced to life imprisonment by a CBI court in Indore in 2017 for sedition, possession of illegal arms and explosives and for plotting terror activities; Saif-ur-Rehman and Mohammad Saif are already facing the death penalty in the Jaipur serial blasts case of May 2008; Mohammad Sadik alias Yaseer from Mumbai is also facing trial in the 2008 Delhi blast case and for firing at the American Center in Kolkata in January 2002 that killed four police constables and a private security guard and Qayamuddin Kapadiya from Vadodara who is considered as one of the key conspirators in the Delhi blast case. All the convicts were present for the hearing via video conference from eight different jails.
The court said that as per Section 368 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the entire record of the proceedings will be now sent to the Gujarat High Court for confirmation of the death sentences. Till the High Court decides on the case, all the accused will remain in jail. Let us wait and watch what the High Court will rule on this high profile case. We just can’t speculate and must keep our fingers crossed till the case is decided finally!