A special Gujarat court pronounced death sentence on 38 out of 49 convicts in the Ahmedabad serial bomb blast case today. Eleven other convicts have been awarded life imprisonment.
Death sentence to the 38 convicts has been awarded under section 302 of the Indian penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The court last week had pronounced 49 accused guilty of the crime, while 28 others were acquitted. The culprits of the 2008 bomb blasts in Hamdabad have been sentenced after 13 years. Special court of Gujarat has given death sentence to 38 convicts of this serial bomb blast. Eleven people have been sentenced to life imprisonment. The court had completed the hearing in this case last Tuesday and had already convicted 49 people.
On July 26, 2008, Ahmedabad city was rocked by a series of bomb blasts in which 56 people were killed and over 200 hundred injured. Islamic militant group Harkat-ul-Jihand-al-Islami had claimed responsibility of the attack. As many as 21 bomb blasts were carried out by the outfit across the city in a span of 70 minutes. The Ahmedabad civil hospital was also targeted in the blasts.
The attack was allegedly carried out to seek revenge for the riots that happened in Godhra, Gujarat in 2002.
Over a period of time, the Gujarat police arrested 85 people for their involvement in the crime but trial commenced against 78 persons.