The verdict came as a shock for sheer numbers of death sentences pronounced at one go.  Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind committed to fight the cases and save the accused from the gallows.

NEW DELHI – A special sessions court pronounced the verdict in the Gujarat bomb blast case on Friday. The court, which had earlier acquitted 28 of the accused facing trial, pronounced sentence on 49 convicts awarding death to as many as 38 accused while sentencing the remaining 11 to life imprisonment.

The verdict came as a shock to many for sheer numbers of death sentences pronounced at one go.  Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind President Maulana Arshad Madani called the verdict unbelievable. In a press release, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind committed itself to fight the cases of the accused youth strongly by hiring the country’s renowned criminal lawyers to save them from the gallows.

“We are sure these youths will get full justice from the high court,” said the Maulana, adding “There are many cases in which the lower courts had given sentences but when those cases went to the high court, full justice was done.”

In this context, he cited the Akshardham temple attack case as a prime example of this phenomenon. A lower court had sentenced three people, including Mufti Abdul Qayyum to death, and four to life imprisonment in the case. Even the Gujarat High Court had upheld the decision.

However, when the case went to the Supreme Court, thanks to the legal aid from Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, all were honorably acquitted. What’s more, the court severely reprimanded the Gujarat Police for accusing innocent people of terrorism.

Maulana Arshad Madani further said in most of the serious cases like bomb blasts, the lower courts give harsh verdicts. But the accused eventually get relief from higher judiciary like high courts and the Supreme Court, and hoped that in this case too, the accused will get relief from the Gujarat high court, and if necessary from the Supreme Court.

Recounting their experiences, Maulana Madani further said that earlier the cases of 11 accused who were sentenced to death by lower courts and high courts were followed up by the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind. It’s intervention ensured that not a single accused was hanged.

“Hopefully, Insha Allah, we will be able to save the accused from execution in this case too,” he asserted.