The Gujarat High Court has upheld the death penalty for 38 members of the banned Indian Mujahideen (IM) and life imprisonment for 11 others in connection with the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case. A Division Bench of Justices A.Y. Kogje and Samir Dave dismissed all appeals filed by the convicts against the special court’s February 2022 judgment and confirmed the sentences.
The Bench also accepted the State government’s plea seeking confirmation of the death sentences. The High Court directed the State government to pay compensation of ₹10 lakh to the next of kin of each person killed in the blasts and ₹5 lakh to those who sustained grievous injuries. The compensation is to be disbursed before March 30, 2027.
The blasts, which occurred on July 26, 2008, killed 56 people and injured more than 200 others. Explosions also occurred at hospitals where victims from earlier blast sites had been taken for treatment, marking the first known instance of hospitals being targeted in a terror attack in India. The investigation culminated in a joint trial after 35 cases were clubbed together, including 20 FIRs registered in Ahmedabad in connection with the 21 explosions and 15 cases from Surat, where several improvised explosive devices had been planted but failed to explode.
A total of 78 persons stood trial before the special court, of whom 49 were convicted in February 2022. The convicts include former Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) leader Safdar Nagori and several of his associates from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and other States. Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi hailed the verdict as a historic victory, saying it sent a strong message to the entire country and peace-loving nations across the world that terrorism would not be tolerated.
He thanked the Gujarat High Court, the trial court and the investigating agencies on behalf of the people of Gujarat for their efforts in securing the convictions. The Deputy CM said the investigation team had worked tirelessly over the years without any legal lapses or compromise, making the verdict possible. He added that the Gujarat government under Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel would immediately implement the High Court’s order by providing ₹10 lakh to the families of those killed in the blasts and ₹5 lakh to those who sustained grievous injuries.
