Ahmedabad, Gujarat: The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday, July 7, upheld the conviction of 49 people in the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts case. The court upheld the award of death sentence for 38 of the convicts and life sentence for the remaining 11, while rejecting all the appeals filed by the convicts, Bar and Bench reported.

The 2008 Ahmedabad bombings were a series bomb blasts that struck the city, within a span of 70 minutes, targeting crowded marketplaces, public transportation, and hospitals, leaving at least 56 people dead and hundreds injured.

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A bench of Justice AY Kogje and Justice Samir J Dave passed the order, rejecting the appeals and holding the conviction. A total of 49 out of 77 accused were convicted by a special court in 2002, sentencing 38 to death and 11 to life imprisonment. The court had also acquitted 28 people in the case. The court declared 49 of the total 78 accused as guilty under various offences of the Indian Penal Code, including for murder, sedition and waging war against the state, as well as under offences of the UAPA and Explosive Substances Act.

The trial court had further imposed a fine of Rs 2.85 lakh each on the 48 convicts. It also awarded compensation of Rs 1 Lakh each to those killed in the blasts, and Rs 50,000 for each victim with serious injuries and Rs 25,000 each for those with minor ones.

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