The Supreme Court (SC) stayed on Monday execution of death sentences of Adam Bhai Suleman and Abdul Qayum Mufti, who have been convicted of killing 37 devotees and tourists at the Akshardham temple in Gujarat eight years ago.
A bench of justices B Sudarshan Reddy and S Nijjar also issued notices to CBI and the Gujarat government on their appeal challenging the conviction.
A special Pota court had in July 2006 awarded death to Suleman and Mufti for one of the worst terrorist attacks. The Gujarat high court confirmed the sentence in June this year, following which they appealed in the apex court.
The two were part of a group of militants allegedly belonging to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba that attacked the temple in Ahmedabad on September 24, 2002.
While rejecting an appeal of six convicts, including three awarded death by the Pota court, in the case, an HC division bench of justices RM Doshit and KM Thakar had said, “Some foreign nationals, presumably religious fanatics and members of terrorist groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, out of hatred for Hindus, decided to commit crime against them in Gujarat and accomplished their goal without any loss to themselves.
“They got involved with full knowledge of what was the aim of the conspiracy and what would be the consequences. They enthusiastically carried out their part of the conspiracy ruthlessly without considering the consequences that would fall upon them and their families. We look at them as victims of religious fanaticism”.
Before SC, the convicts’ lawyer Anis Suhrawardy sought a fresh probe by CBI.
He said Gujarat Police had messed up the investigation the same way they did in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case.
All the accused were arrested following an investigation by disgraced senior police officer DG Vanzara, who is facing trial for killing Sohrabuddin in a fake encounter, Suhrawardy said.
He said the Gujarat government was “notorious for conducting investigations in a totally partial and unjust manner, which was evident from another case monitored by the apex court, the Sohrabuddin encounter case”.
(with PTI inputs)
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