Ahmedabad blasts case: Court awards death sentence to 38

A special court in Ahmedabad on Friday pronounced death sentence to 38 out of 49 convicts in the case related to the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts that claimed 56 lives and for which nearly 80 accused were put on trial. While pronouncing the judgement, Special Judge AR Patel awarded a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to those who had died in the blasts. He also awarded a compensation of Rs 50,000 for victims with serious injury and Rs 25,000 for those with minor injury.

One accused, Usman Agarbattiwala, the only one convicted under the Arms Act and among those sentenced to death, has been additionally awarded one year of imprisonment for conviction under the Arms Act. Sentences awarded to each of the 49 convicts under each section of the IPC, UAPA, Explosive Substances Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, will run concurrently. Additionally, the court has imposed a fine of Rs 2.85 lakh each on 48 convicts. Agarbattiwala, with his additional sentence under Arms Act, has been imposed with a Rs 2.88 lakh-fine.

A series of 21 blasts had rocked the city in a span of 70 minutes on 26 July 2008. A total of 49 persons accused in the blasts, which killed 56 people and injured over 200, had been convicted by a special court on Tuesday, 8 February. The court had acquitted 28 other accused involved in the case.  20 FIRs were registered in Ahmedabad and 15 in Surat.