Indian Court Sentences 38 People to Death over Ahmedabad Bombing

22 bombs went off across Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008 (Wikimedia Commons).

The Indian Court sentenced 38 people to death on February 18, 2022, due to their roles in the fatal 2008 Ahmedabad bombings. This is India’s largest dissemination of capital punishments to date, sparking debates about the death penalty and the nation’s approach to counterterrorism throughout the country.  

On July 26, 2008, 22 bombs exploded across residential areas, marketplaces, along public transportation routes, and near hospitals in Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat. Explosive devices were hidden throughout the city in ordinary objects such as bicycles and lunchboxes, strategically placed to maximize civilian casualties. On that day, 57 people died, and hundreds were injured. 

Five minutes before the explosions, several media outlets received a 14-page email from the Indian Mujahideen, an Islamic militant group, with the subject line: “Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat.” The group referenced a 2002 riot that left over 1,000 dead, most of whom were Muslims, as justification for the attack.

The Mujahideen’s email continued, saying: “We wonder at your memory. Have you forgotten the Evening of July 11, 2006, so quickly and so easily?” The event referenced describes a massacre in which 59 Hindus were murdered in a train fire on the way back from a sacred religious spot in India at the hands of 31 Islamic militants allegedly backed by Pakistan. 

To the Indian Mujahideen, such targeted violence inspired further barbarity against the diverse religious population of Ahmedabad. Current Prime Minister Narendra Modi was, at the time of the 2006 train attack, head of the Gujarat state government. Critics have accused Modi of turning a blind eye to the deep schism between Muslims and Hindus within his region that often produces extreme social unrest and sectarian violence on both sides. 

India’s justice system has subsequently been accused of addressing the 2008 attacks with little urgency; however, the announcement of this historic ruling provoked divergent reactions from citizens regarding the death penalty in India. Whereas many people have vocally denounced the Supreme Court’s continued use of capital punishments, thousands have taken to the streets to celebrate this decision in the name of restoring justice to the victims. 

“I lost my son in the terror attack. There are many like me who have lost their dear and near ones on this fateful day. We have gone through a lot in these 14 years. Today I can sleep in peace,” said Daaben Modi, mother of victim Ankit Modi. 

Some academics and research groups, in light of the recent Ahmedabad ruling and the outcome of the 2006 train bombing trials, argue that the death penalty is a punishment that contradicts India’s commitment to increasing and improving rehabilitation programs in prison. Furthermore, activists in favor of abolishing the death penalty exclaim that “The Supreme Court has repeatedly admitted that it has arbitrarily imposed this most extreme punishment.” The February 18 ruling – the country’s biggest mass death sentence – promises to bring to light new debates in India on the use of capital punishment in the name of counter-terrorism, all against a backdrop of fervent ethnoreligious tension and persistent violence.