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Conditional acquittal for all accused in Umta rioting case by Manas Dasgupta

Relates to February 28, 2002 killing of duo, whose bodies were later thrown into a fire

All the surviving 109 accused in the Umta rioting case, in which two persons were killed during the post-Godhra communal riots, have been granted conditional acquittals by the Visnagar court.

Mohammad Abdul Sheikh, a retired teacher, and Abdul Mansuri, were killed and later their bodies thrown into a fire during communal violence in Umta village in Visnagar taluka of Mehsana district in north Gujarat on February 28, 2002. More than 100 houses of the minorities were also looted and set afire by a mob of over 2,000.

The police arrested a total of 120 persons in connection with rioting, arson and murder. Of them, 11 died during the trial.

Visnagar court judge K.V. Magnani on Friday acquitted all the accused giving them the benefit of doubt because no “concrete evidence” was available against any of them. The court, however, stipulated conditions asking them to furnish a personal bond of Rs. 10,000 each, deposit their passports if they held one, and submit their address proofs before the court.

The acquitted have also been told not to leave Gujarat without the permission of the court.

Special Public Prosecutor Navin Barot regretted the court order but said the court had to give them the benefit of doubt as prime witnesses, who hailed from the village, had all turned hostile and refused to recognise any of them as attackers. He said he would give his opinion about challenging the judgment after studying the order.

‘Attackers outsiders'

Babubhai Patel, one of those acquitted, claimed that the local Muslims supported their cause because the two communities always lived together in the village and would continue to do so. He claimed that the attackers were mostly people from outside but the police had wrongly arrested the locals. Some minority leaders, who were helping the victims in the court case, however, claimed that the local Muslims had “bought peace” with the majority community members by not identifying the accused in court.

Sardarpura carnage

Meanwhile, the Gujarat High Court on Friday admitted the petitions filed by various parties concerned in the Sardarpura massacre in which 33 members of the minority community were killed in the village, also in Mehsana district, on March 1, 2002.

The special fast track court judge S.C. Srivastava last month sentenced 31 convicted to life imprisonment while exonerating 42 others, including 31 of them on benefit of doubt. While the State government and the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team have applied for enhancing the punishment for the convicts and also challenged the acquittals of the 31 persons, the victims and witnesses have filed a petition demanding application of “pre-planned conspiracy” theory against those convicted.

A Division Bench of the High Court, comprising Justices Jayant Patel and Paresh Upadhyaya, has admitted the petitions and fixed May 2 for the hearing. It will hear on June 18 the petition filed by the State government.