Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court on Monday confirmed the death sentence for 38 persons in the 2008 serial blasts case, the highest number confirmed by any high court in the history of Independent India. In the order released on Monday, the court cited the gravity of the terrorist attack, the criminal antecedents of the accused, their indictment and conviction in other courts in various states, and their jail conduct which included digging a tunnel in Sabarmati Central Jail for a potential prison-break bid as reasons for giving death penalty to the convicts.HC on July 7 had confirmed death for 38 persons and life imprisonment for 11 others, dismissing appeals by the accused against their conviction for the terror strike that rocked Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008.In a 2,223-page verdict, the bench of Justice A Y Kogje and Justice S J Dave reviewed the cases of each of the convicts on death row and held that aggravating circumstances outweighed mitigating circumstances.The court said the convicts’ participation in the criminal conspiracy, including arranging material, vehicles and cycles and carrying explosives to blast sites, warranted capital punishment. It noted that hospitals were targeted, including the death of a doctor couple, Dr Prerak Shah and his wife Kinjal, in the blast at Civil Hospital, and said, “Nothing more can be more shocking than this incident, and the accused cannot escape by maintaining that they were not aware or planned for such catastrophic effect which would warrant nothing less than a capital punishment.”The court said, “commission of striking terror is extremely cruel and gravest cases of extreme culpability and the character of perpetrator of crime is wicked and corrupt”.Upholding the death sentence imposed by the trial court, the bench said due process on sentencing was followed and the scale of the conspiracy justified capital punishment. “The Court is satisfied that all necessary steps for hearing on sentence have been followed by the special Court and all circumstances have been duly considered by the special Court while imposing the sentence on the accused. Looking at the gravity of offence, the intention of the accused behind the act and the humongous nature of the conspiracy, this Court is of the opinion that the sentence of death penalty deserves to be imposed upon the accused.”The court said that blasts targeted Hindu community, an act that struck at root of the Constitutional values: “In the facts of our case also, the target group has been Hindu community, as on the basis of evidences of eye witnesses as well as the witnesses to the conspiracy, prosecution has established that the target for this terror act is focused on the locality, predominantly Hindu/nonMuslims and therefore, this act is also striking to the root of an orderly society envisioned under our Constitution.”The HC underscored the case falls in the category of the ‘rarest of the rare’. “There is no doubt in the mind of the Court that such consorted attack is an attack on the sovereignty of India with ultimate objective as is even reflected from evidence of witnesses, to topple democratically elected Government, which has ultimately resulted in death of 56 persons indiscriminately and injuries to 240 persons without their fault, will take this case in the category of “rarest of the rare”The high court also upheld the trial court’s observation that there was no scope of reforming the serial blast convicts. “Nothing contrary to such a finding given by the trial Court has been controverted, either by any evidence on record or even by pleadings,” the court said. The court also said that the accused being involved in similar anti national activity shows remorseless conduct.HC mentioned in its order the confessional statements made by the accused persons. One of them, Imran Ibrahim Shaikh, revealed how key accused Safdar Nagori and others exhorted them to undertake mass killing and target the then chief minister Narendra Modi. He said, “They (speakers) spoke in their speeches about targeting mass killings and did not object to conducting explosions and were happy about it. They also talked about the targeting of political leader; Narendra Modi.”The high court also upheld life imprisonment for 11 convicts and the fines imposed, citing the magnitude of damage to public property, including the Civil Hospital. “Over and above the loss of life and injuries to the victims as described in preceding paras, the damage suffered to the public property especially, the property like, a Civil Hospital has to be treated as a circumstance of larger magnitude. The Court is therefore convinced that the fine imposed on each of the accused whose collective role has knowingly led to the damage of this magnitude is justified.”RAREST OF THE RARE– Verdict runs 2,223 pages; bench: Justice A Y Kogje and Justice S J Dave.– Court relied on the gravity of the attack, the accused’s criminal antecedents, convictions in other states, and jail conduct including “digging a tunnel” in Sabarmati central jail.– Hospitals cited as targeted locations; Civil Hospital blast and death of a doctor couple highlighted.– Court categorised case as “rarest of the rare”; cited 56 deaths and 240 injuries.– High court upheld the trial court’s view that there was “no scope of reformation” among the accused.– Fines on life convicts upheld, with emphasis on damage to public property including Civil Hospital.
