Ahmedabad blasts case: 38 sentenced to death, 11 to life in jail

Thirty-eight persons have been sentenced to death after being found guilty in the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts case which claimed the lives of 56 people and left over 200 injured.

A special court hearing the case also sentenced 11 other convicts to life in jail till death.

The court of Judge AR Patel ordered compensation of ₹1 lakh each to the kin of those killed and ₹50,000 for those who suffered severe injuries and ₹25,000 for those with minor ones.

One person convicted under the Arms Act, and who was among those given death sentence, has been sentenced to an additional year of imprisonment.

The trial which began in 2009 examined over 1,100 witnesses against 78 accused. Earlier this month, the court finally pronounced 49 of them guilty under various offences of the Indian Penal Code, including for murder, sedition and waging war against the state, as well as under offences of the UAPA and Explosive Substances Act.

On July 26, 2008, 22 bombs went off 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 people and injuring more than 200.

The police had claimed that the blasts were planned and executed by people associated with the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM), a faction of radicals of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Police recovered more bombs later from different parts of Surat.