The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the execution of Ahmed Bawa alias Abbu Abubakar Barelvi — an operative of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) – a convict in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts case that claimed 56 lives.A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice AG Masih and Justice Sandeep Mehta issued notice to Gujarat Government on Barelvi’s petition challenging the Gujarat High Court’s July 2026 verdict upholding the death penalty awarded to him by a Special Court. It also summoned the trial court’s records.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the state, termed it a “serious case”.Fifty six people died and more than 200 others got injured when a series of 21 explosions rocked various parts of Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008 in a span of 70 minutes. Explosions also took place at hospitals where victims were being rushed for treatment — the first such targeting of medical facilities in a terror attack in India.Seventy-eight people were put on trial in 35 police cases — 20 FIRs relating to the Ahmedabad blast and 15 linked to unexploded bombs recovered in Surat — were merged.In February 2022, a Special Court in Gujarat convicted 49 accused in the case and awarded the death penalty to 38 of them and awarded life imprisonment to the remaining 11 convicts while acquitting 28 other accused. It also upheld life imprisonment awarded to 11 other convicts, holding that their roles in terror training camps in Gujarat and Kerala, and logistical support to the conspiracy had been proved.In July 2026, the high court rejected all appeals filed by the convicts and confirmed the February 2022 judgment of the Special Court, which had sentenced 38 IM members to death and 11 others to life imprisonment. The criminal antecedents and roles of the 38 convicts established that they had carried out a terrorist act warranting the death penalty, the high court said, noting that the Special/Trial Court considered both mitigating and aggravating circumstances while imposing the sentence.The high court upheld the fines imposed on the convicts, observing that the magnitude of the offence, the damage to public property and the large-scale loss of life and injuries justified the penalties. It directed the Gujarat government to pay compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of those killed and Rs 5 lakh each to the grievously injured before March 30, 2027.The convicts included Safdar Nagori, former leader of the banned outfit Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), and his associates from 11 states, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh.“The manner in which the bomb blasts were executed speaks volumes about the mindset and the remorseless act of taking away the lives of innocent people,” the high court said, underlining that some of the convicts had criminal antecedents and none had shown remorse.The high court said the number of deaths, the “humongous nature of conspiracy”, the intention “to create an atmosphere of widespread terror in the society”, the conduct of the convicts during trial, the scale of the conspiracy, and the loss of innocent lives in the “inhuman and dastardly act” justified the capital punishment.