For the first time since independence, India will witness the execution of 38 convicts who are connected in the same case of Ahmedabad serial bombings that happened in 2008. On Friday - February 18, a special court in Ahmedabad had awarded the death sentence for 38 convicts in a single ruling and the final verdict on the horrible terror attack has attracted massive attention from across and beyond the borders. 

According to reports, besides sentencing 38 convicts to death, the special court has also awarded life incarceration for eleven other convicts. In what has become a highly-watched case, special court judge Justice AR Patel had sentenced the death penalty for 38 convicts for three offences - Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 10 and 16(1)(2) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). 

These charges were also invoked on the convicts who had got life imprisonment. As per the verdict, all convicts except Usman Agarbattiwala have been fined Rs 2.85 lakh while Agarbattiwala was fined Rs 2.88 lakh for 26 different offences under the Indian Penal Code, UAPA, Explosive Substance Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Properties Act and Arms Act. 

All the 49 convicts have been lodged in six different prisons in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Gaya, Bengaluru, Bhopal, and Taloja. While the prosecution has sought the death penalty for all 49 convicts, the lawyers who had appeared for the convicts had requested the court to show some mercy by considering the social and economic conditions of the convicts. The court had taken 24 minutes and 22 seconds to read out the quantum of punishment to 49 convicts.

The final verdict has come ten days after the special court had found the convicts guilty of the heinous crime of bombing the city in 2008. On February 8, the court has held 49 people guilty in the case and acquitted 28 others and the court has also pardoned one accused, who later turned an approver. All the convicts were facing extremely serious charges including criminal conspiracy, sedition, attempting to wage war against the nation, and terrorist activities. These charges warrant a maximum punishment of the death penalty. 

Serial bombings of Ahmedabad: 

On July 26, 2008, the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat had hit by serial bomb blasts, which put the city in bloodshed. Within 70 minutes, from 6.45 pm to 7.55 pm, the city had witnessed 21 bomb blasts and the bombings had killed 56 people while 200 people had sustained severe injuries. In this terrorist attack, hospitals were targeted for the first time in the country. 

A bomb blast occurred outside the trauma centre of the Civil Hospital, which had reported the most number of casualties with 37 deaths. Another blast took place in the parking slot of LG Hospital in which one person was injured. These bombings had occurred a day after the blasts that took place in Bangalore. In Ahmedabad, most of the bombs were planted in tiffin careers on bicycles and besides hospitals, the blasts had also happened in public transport. During the time of blasts, current Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. 

Terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) had claimed the responsibility of the bomb blasts. Following the blasts, several TV channels had said that they had received an e-mail from the terror outfit claiming responsibility for the terror attacks. Another militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami had also claimed responsibility. Following the attacks, Gujarat Police had arrested the mastermind of the attack, Mufti Abu Bashir, along with nine others as the bombings and probe had drawn global attention. 

The Indian Mujahideen had termed that it had carried out bomb blasts as a reprisal of the 2002 Gujarat riots. The police had claimed that IM was formed by some of the former members of the Students' Islamic Movement of India. The trial was conducted by the court after merging 35 different cases - 20 were lodged in Ahmedabad and 15 in Surat. The trial ran for over a decade during which the prosecution had examined 1,163 witnesses and the trial had seen nine different judges. 

The hearing was concluded in September 2021. On February 8, 2022, the special court of Ahmedabad had delivered the verdict pronouncing 49 people as convicted in the crime after they were found guilty while the court has acquitted 28 others under the grounds of lack of acceptable evidence. On Friday - February 18, the court has delivered the quantum of punishment for the 49 convicts - 38 have been sentenced to death while the rest 11 have been awarded life imprisonment. 

It is the first time that the country will be witnessing a mass execution as per the verdict as 38 were sentenced to death in a single ruling. It will be the first execution for India in two years as lastly, the four convicts of the Delhi gang-rape were executed in March 2020. The final verdict of the special court in the Ahmedabad bombings runs for 7,015 pages. 

Appealing against capital punishment: 

Following what would become a historical verdict, a defence lawyer, who represented the convicts, said that they would challenge the death sentence in a higher court. Speaking to Reuters, lawyer Khalid Shaikh said, "We had sought lenient sentences for the convicts as they have already spent more than 13 years in prison. But the court awarded death to the majority of them. We will definitely go for appeal."