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Adambhai Sulemanbhai Ajmeri v. State of Gujarat

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal Nos. 2295-2296 of 2010)Decided 16 May 2014
Criminal Appeal Nos. 2295-2296 of 2010
Justice A.K. Patnaik · Justice V. Gopala Gowda

Background

The appellants had been convicted of involvement in the 2002 Akshardham temple attack, which killed thirty-three people and injured many others. Three faced death sentences, while the others received imprisonment. Their appeals challenged the prosecution sanction, police-recorded confessions, accomplice accounts and physical evidence used to connect them to the attack.

Decision Breakdown

The Court acquitted all appellants and set aside their convictions and sentences. The POTA prosecution sanction lacked demonstrated independent consideration, and mandatory safeguards for recording confessions had not been properly followed. Retracted confessions and accomplice accounts lacked reliable independent corroboration; the alleged letters and vehicle evidence also failed scrutiny. Contradictory accounts did not establish the alleged conspiracy, and defence evidence had been unfairly discounted. Using Article 142, the Court also acquitted the non-appealing co-accused convicted on the same rejected evidence, clearing his conviction even though he had served his sentence.

Lesson Learnt

The seriousness of an attack does not lower the prosecution's burden to prove who committed it. Safeguards against coerced confessions and fair assessment of defence evidence are essential when convictions can cost liberty or life.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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