An Indian court on Wednesday gave a life sentence to two Hindu extremists over the deadly bombing at Ajmer Sharif, a Sufi shrine that is visited both by the Hindus and Muslims.
Indian police had initially claimed that the shrine was attacked by the same Pakistani militants who were allegedly responsible for the 2007 attack.
However earlier this month, the court found Devendra Gupta and Bhavesh Patel guilty of these crimes. This is the first time that Hindu radicals have been found guilty of conducting such crimes. There was another culprit with them who was shot dead a few months ago.
Magistrate Dinesh Kumar Gupta pronounced the sentence on Wednesday.
Special public prosecutor Ashwini Sharma said their motive was to create disharmony and unrest between the communities.
“Their motive was to hurt religious sentiments of Muslims during the month of Ramzan (Ramadan) by the bomb blast,” Sharma said.
Gupta and Patel’s lawyer J.S. Rana have also said that both the convicts will file an appeal in a higher court.
