Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts case: Special court to begin hearing on quantum of punishment on Feb 11

The three -week time period was sought was on the ground that owing to the prevailing Covid-19 situation, the lawyers will be unable to meet the accused and for procuring the documents, it may take some time, the public prosecutor said.

CrPC section 354 (3) states that when the conviction is for an offence punishable with death or, in the alternative, with imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term of years, the judgment shall state the reasons for the sentence awarded, and, in the case of sentence of death, the special reasons for such sentence.
The defence side’s application states that “in order to bring the personal circumstances, mental health related aspects, any other mitigating circumstances, etc” the defence is “required to seek documentary evidence and appropriate instructions” from the accused persons who have been convicted as well as from their family members.

The application also places reliance on Supreme Court-issued directions in Rajendra Prahladrao Wasnik versus State of Maharashtra that elaborates on giving adequate opportunity of hearing to the prosecution as well as the defence to produce material so that the possibility of awarding life sentence is open to the trial judge as against death sentence, as the latter must only be awarded for the “rarest of rare” cases.

The application also states that as per the SC judgment, a duty is also conferred on the prosecution to lead evidence in support of their claim on the aspects of non-reformability of those convicted.

Public prosecutor Sudhir Brahmbhatt added, “The court also notified that the jail authorities across all jails must supply documents such as medical papers, education certificates etc (to the lawyers) by 5 pm today, so that a hearing can be conducted (on the punishment quantum for those convicted) on February 11. These documents will be relied upon by the defence to seek minimum sentence for those convicted.”

Special designated judge AR Patel on February 8 convicted 49 of the 77 accused in the 2008 serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad that claimed 56 lives and left over 200 injured, and acquitted 28 others, giving them benefit of doubt.

Another accused who had turned approver in the course of the trial, supporting the prosecution’s case, was pardoned and acquitted of all the charges.

One of the key convictions among the accused is that of Qayamuddin Kapadia from Vadodara, who is also facing trial for the Delhi serial blast.

Two other convicted by the Ahmedabad special court — Saif-ur-Rehman alias Saifu alias Saif Abdul Rehman and Mohammadsaif alias Rahul Sharma alias Keriseva Shaikh — are those who have been punished with the death penalty in December 2019 by a Jaipur court for serial blasts in the Jaipur city in May 2008.