The special court in its order on Ahmedabad terror blast said there is no jail in the country which can keep them forever and releasing them will be like releasing a man-eater leopard in public.
The special court which has given death sentence to the 38 convicts of the 2008 Ahmedabad terror blast case in its order said that they deserve the death sentence as allowing them to remain in society is like releasing a “man-eater leopard” in the public. A copy of the order was made available on Saturday. The court made some strong observations about the case and against the convicts.
- The court said that the death sentence will be reasonable as the case falls in the “rarest of the rare” category.
- If such people are allowed to remain in society, it will be like releasing a man-eater leopard in public. Such convicts are like a man-eater leopard that eats innocents in society, including children, youth, elderly, women, men, newborns, and people of different caste and communities, the court said.
- For the people carrying out such terrorist activities, death sentence is the only option, for the sake of peace and safety of the country and its people, it said. There is no jail in the country that can keep them lodged forever.
The Verdict: A special court here on Friday awarded death penalty to 38 convicts and sentenced 11 others to life imprisonment in the case of 2008 Ahmedabad terror blast, which had claimed 56 lives and left over 200 injured.
This is for the first time that so many convicts have been handed down death sentences by any court all at once. In January 1998, a TADA court in Tamil Nadu had awarded capital punishment to all 26 convicts in the case of the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
The pronouncement of the quantum of punishment by judge A R Patel came nearly 14 years after the deadly Ahmedabad terror blast. The court had convicted 49 persons and acquitted 28 others in the case on February 8. As many as 21 explosions had ripped through the city on July 26, 2008, within a span of 70 minutes.
Those awarded death sentence include key conspirators in the case—Madhya Pradesh natives Safdar Nagori and Qumaruddin Nagori, as well as Gujarat residents Qayumuddin Kapadiya, Zahid Shaikh, and Shamsuddin Sheikh.
Both Safdar Nagori and Zahid Shaikh were accused of collecting funds for acquiring explosives and for other illegal activities of banned outfit Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Kapadiya had acquired mobile SIM cards using fake documents and stayed in hotels using fake identity.
Initial Trial: The trial had begun in December 2009 against 77 persons linked to the banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM). Four more accused were arrested later, but their trial has not commenced yet, a senior government lawyer said.
Bombs had exploded at various spots in Ahmedabad, including the state government-run civil hospital, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-run LG Hospital, on buses, parked bicycles, in cars and other places, killing 56 persons. As many as 29 live bombs were also found in Surat in the next couple of days, though none of them exploded.
A total of nine different judges presided over the case, starting with Bela Trivedi, in whose court charges were framed against the accused on February 15, 2010. Justice Trivedi is now the judge of the Supreme Court.
Special judge AR Patel, who handed over the judgement, started hearing the case on June 14, 2017. Police had claimed that members of the IM, a radicalized faction of SIMI, were behind the Ahmedabad terror blast.
Source: Hinsdustantimes.com & Opindia.com
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