The Supreme Court has stayed the death sentence of one convict in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts case and issued a notice to the Gujarat government seeking its response.
The Supreme Court, on Thursday, stayed the death sentence awarded to one of the 38 persons convicted in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts case. The court's decision comes after the convict's counsel argued that their conviction was based entirely on 'conspiracy'.
The court is hearing a petition challenging the Gujarat High Court’s July 7 judgement upholding the death sentences handed to 38 of the 49 persons convicted in the case. On Thursday, the court also issued a notice to the Gujarat government, seeking its response on the convict's petition.
Twenty-two explosions had ripped through the city on July 26, 2008, leaving 56 dead and more than 200 injured. In February 2022, a special court convicted the 49 persons, of whom 38 were sentenced to death, and the others were given life imprisonment. Among these, 28 persons had been acquitted in the case and one person accused in the matter had turned an approver for the prosecution.
In July, the Gujarat High Court had upheld the death sentence handed to 38 of the 49 persons. It also upheld the sentence of life imprisonment given to the remaining 11 persons. The blasts on July 26, 2008, took place at the municipal-run Lallubhai Gordhandas Hospital, on buses, parked bicycles and in cars.
The police had claimed that persons associated with the banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen were responsible for the serial blasts. The Indian Mujahideen is a faction of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India.
Source:
Scroll.in
