Ahmedabad blasts’ convicts beyond reform, observes court

A special designated court, which on Friday sentenced 38 convicts to death and life imprisonment till death to 11 others for carrying out serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad in 2008, has observed in its voluminous order that these convicts were beyond “reform”.

Special judge Ambalal R Patel has remarked in the judgement, running into 7,015 pages, that “languages and behaviour” of the convicts would never change.

The court has mentioned how one of them submitted during the hearing on quantum of punishment that “public prosecutors and others will die in the next two years.”

The judgement was made public on Saturday evening.

“It is clearly established that if these accused are given less than life in jail till their last breath, they can repeat the offence and would also aid similar activities. Therefore, I believe that there will be peace in the society if they are in jail till their last breath. Second noteworthy aspect is, after the July 2008 incident a total of 66 accused were arrested and 78 were arrested in the later years. During the arrest of the accused initially till the year 2021 no case of serial bomb blasts occurred in any state or city in India. It is a fact and therefore if these accused remained in jail till their last breath, I believe that the peace in the society will not be breached and people can live without fear,” the judge has stated in his order.

On the question of reform and rehabilitation, the judgement has stated that convicts have several criminal cases of similar nature in many parts of the country, based on which, it can be said that “there is no hope that these accused will be reformed”.

Also read: Justice is delayed, says kin of man acquitted in Ahmedabad blasts case

‘No hope’

The judge has found that in the past five years, during which he conducted the trial, he “observed the language and behaviour during day-to-day proceedings of the accused”. Based on his observation, the judge has stated that “there is no hope that these accused will be reformed in the future.”

The judgement lists a number of incidents of convicts “misbehaving with policemen, jail staff, doctors” among other officials and breaching jail manuals. It says how 10 of the convicts, who were transferred from Ahmedabad to Bhopal, went on a hunger strike for three to four months. Besides, it also lists a failed attempt to escape from Sabarmati Central Jail, Ahmedabad by digging an over 200-foot long tunnel.

While evaluating the age and character of the convicts, the court found, “The accused were between 21 and 40 years of age. It can be said that they are all young. The accused being young, having been trained in terrorism, making bombs, planting bombs are capable of carrying out these activities.”

The judgement notes, “These are not just the accused who are involved in one offence or have committed an offence but they are the accused who have knowledge of law.”

Also read: 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case: Court holds 49 guilty, acquits 28

The court found the blasts an act of “terror” and termed it as “mass killing”. Describing the magnitude of the offence, the judgement states that 56 innocent people were killed in Ahmedabad.

“It is difficult to guess the magnitude of the offence when a healthy body gets blown away in seconds”. The court noted that a total of 240 people were injured. Many oxen, cows, dogs and birds were also killed.

In the civil hospital, 37 persons were killed and 80 were injured. The trauma centre of the civil hospital suffered a damage of Rs1.82 crore. Court has said that bombs were planted outside hospitals and were timed to target leader including then chief minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, then minister of state for home, among others. The judgement states that the incident created chaos in Ahmedabad and spread fear among the public for many days, which affected not just Gujarat but elsewhere in the country.

The court said that after SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) was banned, “Indian Mujahideen” came into being to carry out SIMI's activities. The court has found that the motive behind terror strike was "to avenge 2002 Gdhra riots and falsely charging the then chief minister Narendra Modi of being anti-Muslim and to overthrow his government.” It said that the blasts were carried out in Hindu majority areas for “mass killing.”

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