The Gujarat high court here on Tuesday confirmed the death sentence awarded to three convicts by a designated Pota (Prevention of Terrorism Act) court for the September 24, 2002 Akshardham temple terror attack which left 32 people dead. In an in-camera proceeding, a division bench of Justices R.M. Doshi and K.M. Thaker,
while confirming the death sentence of the three convicts and varied prison terms of three others, observed that they did not deserve any leniency.
The court said the convicts were aware of the gravity of the offence they were going to commit and were also aware of the result and consequences of their heinous crime.
The Prevention of Terrorism Act court had awarded death sentence to Adam Ajmeri, Shan Miya alias Chand Khan and Mufti Abdul Qayyum Mansuri. Besides, Mohammed Salim Shaikh was sentenced to life imprisonment, Abdulmiyan Qadri was given a 10-year jail term and Altaf Hussain was sentenced to five years in prison.
The Akshardham terror attack incident was the first judgment of the designated court under the now-repealed Pota which was confirmed by the high court. The Pota court had delivered the judgment in July 2006.