India | Ahmedabad Serial Blasts: Gujarat High Court Upholds Death Penalty For 38 Convicts, Life Terms For 11

On July 26, 2008, 56 people died, and more than 200 people were injured after 21 explosions rocked Ahmedabad within a span of 70 minutes.

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentences of 38 convicts and life imprisonment awarded to 11 others in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case, affirming the verdict of a special court that had convicted members of the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM).

A division bench of Justices A.Y. Kogje and Samir Dave dismissed all appeals filed by the convicts against the 2022 special court judgment, thereby confirming the sentences.

The case relates to the serial bomb blasts that rocked Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008, when 21 explosions ripped through different parts of the city within a span of 70 minutes. The attacks claimed 56 lives and left more than 200 people injured. Several hospitals treating the blast victims were also targeted.

In February 2022, a special court sentenced 38 convicts to death and 11 others to life imprisonment, describing the case as falling under the “rarest of rare" category. The convicts later challenged the verdict before the Gujarat High Court.

With Tuesday’s ruling, the High Court upheld the sentences awarded to all the convicts, rejecting their appeals and affirming the lower court’s findings against the Indian Mujahideen members in the case.

The judgment marks a significant development in one of India’s deadliest terror cases, nearly 18 years after the coordinated bombings shook Gujarat’s largest city.

The 2008 Ahmedabad Serial Blasts

The Ahmedabad serial blasts took place on July 26, 2008, a day after coordinated bomb explosions struck Bengaluru. In Ahmedabad, 21 low-intensity bombs exploded across 14 locations over nearly an hour, beginning around 6:45 pm. The attacks killed 56 people and injured more than 200.

The Indian Mujahideen (IM), an Islamic extremist group (with possible links to Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami), claimed responsibility via an email sent to media outlets shortly before the blasts. The email explicitly cited revenge for the 2002 Gujarat riots (following the Godhra train burning) as the primary motive, framing the attacks as retaliation against perceived injustices to Muslims and threatening further violence.

Among the locations targeted were Maninagar, Raipur, Bapunagar, Hatkeshwar Circle, Sarkhej, Thakkarbapa Nagar, Khadia, Sarangpur, Jawahar Chowk, Isanpur, Govindwadi and Narol, as well as the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. Two hospitals treating the injured were also targeted in the coordinated attacks.

Source: news18.com, Prisha Vibhavari, July 7, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

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