AHMEDABAD: Ambalal R Patel, a retired sessions judge who handed down 38 death sentences in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case, was appointed Tuesday as Gujarat‘s director of prosecution.
Never before in independent India had so many people been given the capital punishment in one go.
Patel’s new posting by the state govt comes almost a year after his retirement from subordinate judicial service.He had delivered the blasts case verdict as Ahmedabad sessions judge in Feb 2022. He had jailed 11 others in the case for life. The blasts on July 26, 2008, had killed over 55 people and wounded more than 200.
The appeals by those sentenced to death, and contrary pleas by the state to get their punishment confirmed, are pending in Gujarat HC.
Patel also briefly presided over the criminal prosecution initiated against social activist Teesta Setalvad, former DGP R B Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt. They have been charged with hatching a conspiracy to frame Narendra Modi and others over the 2002 riots. TNN
Never before in independent India had so many people been given the capital punishment in one go.
Patel’s new posting by the state govt comes almost a year after his retirement from subordinate judicial service.He had delivered the blasts case verdict as Ahmedabad sessions judge in Feb 2022. He had jailed 11 others in the case for life. The blasts on July 26, 2008, had killed over 55 people and wounded more than 200.
The appeals by those sentenced to death, and contrary pleas by the state to get their punishment confirmed, are pending in Gujarat HC.
Patel also briefly presided over the criminal prosecution initiated against social activist Teesta Setalvad, former DGP R B Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt. They have been charged with hatching a conspiracy to frame Narendra Modi and others over the 2002 riots. TNN
