INDIA: GUJARAT HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR 38 ACCUSED AND LIFE TERM FOR 11 PERSONS IN 2008 AHMEDABAD SERIAL BLAST CASE

The Gujarat High Court on July 7, 2026 upheld a 2022 Special Court order sentencing 38 convicts to death and 11 others to life imprisonment in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case, which had claimed 56 lives. 

A bench of Justice A. Y. Kogje and Justice Samir J. Dave pronounced the verdict on July 7, a day after reserving the orders on the State Government’s appeal to confirm the death sentences. A detailed judgment is still awaited.
In 2022, the High Court had issued notices to Gujarat Government on the Convicts’ separate appeals moved challenging their conviction and sentences.

The convicts include former Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) leader Safdar Nagori and several of his associates from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and other States.

On July 26, 2008, 22 bombs exploded across Ahmedabad, including at the Civil Hospital, LG Hospital, buses, parked bicycles and cars, killing 56 people and injuring around 200. 

Police alleged that the serial blasts were carried out by members of Indian Mujahideen (IM), linked to the banned Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), to avenge the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

In February 2022, a Special Court in Ahmedabad had sentenced 38 of the 49 convicts to death under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. 

The 11 others were sentenced to life in jail till death. 

Special Judge A. R. Patel had awarded Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the kin of each person killed in the blasts, Rs 50,000 for each victim with serious injuries, and Rs 25,000 each for those with minor ones. 

This judgment and order of the Special Court has been upheld by the Gujarat High Court on July 7.