INDIAN COURT SENTENCES 38 TO DEATH FOR AHMEDABAD BOMBINGS

A court in India has sentenced 38 people to death and sentenced 11 others to life in prison in connection with a series of bomb blasts in the western city of Ahmedabad in 2008.

The court convicted 49 people on February 8 for the coordinated attacks that killed 56 people and injured 200 others by launching shrapnel through markets, buses, and other public places in Gujarat state’s commercial hub.

In total, nearly 80 people were charged in connection with the attacks, but 28 were acquitted. All of the defendants were found guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy.

Judge A R Patel on Friday ordered the punishment after the prosecution pressed for the death sentence describing the incident as a “rarest of rare case” in which innocent lives were lost.

A defence lawyer said they would appeal the verdict in a higher court.

“We had sought lenient sentences for the convicts as they have already spent more than 13 years in prison,” Khalid Shaikh told Reuters news agency. “But the court awarded death to the majority of them. We will definitely go for appeal.”

A group calling itself the “Indian Mujahideen” had claimed responsibility for the blasts on July 26, 2008. It said the act was revenge for 2002 religious riots in the state that left some 1,000 people – mostly Muslims – dead.

More than 1,100 witnesses were called to testify during the marathon trial, which lasted nearly a decade. Procedural delays dragged the case out, including a legal battle by four of the accused to have their confessions retracted.

A 2013 attempt by more than a dozen of the defendants to tunnel their way out of jail using food plates as digging tools was also foiled by police.

Except for one, who was released after being diagnosed with schizophrenia, all 77 accused have been held in custody for years.

Ahmedabad was the centre of deadly 2002 religious riots that saw at least 1,000 people hacked, shot and burned to death.

The violence erupted after 59 Hindus were killed in a train fire, in which 31 Muslims were found guilty of criminal conspiracy and murder.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the state’s chief minister at the time, and he has since been accused of turning a blind eye to the violence.