News Desk, AnyTV, Ahmedabad
Published by: Kirtivardhan Mishra
Updated Sun, 20 Feb 2022 10:28 PM IST
Summary
A bench of Special Judge AR Patel on Friday sentenced 38 terrorists of terrorist organization Indian Mujahideen (IM) to death in connection with the serial blasts in Ahmedabad.
2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blast convicts and photos from that time
– Photo: PTI
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A special court in Ahmedabad has said that the accused in the 2008 serial blasts in the city used to change their appearance so that prosecution witnesses could not identify them and evade punishment.
A bench of Special Judge AR Patel on Friday sentenced 38 terrorists of terrorist organization Indian Mujahideen (IM) to death in connection with the serial blasts in Ahmedabad. 56 people died in these blasts and more than 200 people were injured. The court had sentenced life imprisonment to 11 accused linked to IM in this case. 28 others were acquitted in the case. This is the first time in the country that a court has sentenced so many people to death at once.
What did the court say in the decision?
In the 7,015-page judgment uploaded on the court’s website on Saturday, the court said it found during the hearing that the accused were using different tactics to ensure that the witnesses could not identify the accused. During the hearing of the case which lasted till September 2021, 1,163 witnesses were examined. The court said that the accused were produced in small groups through video conferencing to enable the witnesses to be identified.
What are the tactics used by the terrorists to escape?
The court said that during this time the accused used various tricks, such as changing their body language, wearing different attire, wearing or removing cap or glasses and changing the shape of their beard etc. The court said that despite these efforts, many witnesses managed to identify several accused, and those who could not do so before the court, identified them during the identification parade before the executive magistrate.
The court said that barring 10-12 witnesses, all others provided details of what was known about the incident. According to the court, many witnesses could not identify the accused due to long gaps. The convicts in this case are lodged in various jails across the country, including Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad, Tihar Jail in Delhi and jails in Bhopal, Gaya, Bengaluru, Kerala and Mumbai.