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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Gujarat massacre: 23 killed, 23 guilty, 23 acquitted

Gujarat massacre: 23 killed, 23 guilty, 23 acquitted

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published Published on Apr 10, 2012   modified Modified on Apr 10, 2012
-The Times of India
 
More than a decade after 23 people, mostly women and children, were killed when a mob set ablaze a shelter for Muslims huddled together for safety in Ode during the post-Godhra riots, a Gujarat court on Monday found 23 of the suspects guilty of murder and conspiracy. The Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) has sought the death sentence for those convicted of murder. 

The special court in Anand will decide the punishment on Thursday. Of the 23 convicted, designated judge Poonam Singh held 18 guilty of murder, while four others were convicted of attempt to murder and one for rioting. All of them were found guilty of conspiracy, unlawful assembly and rioting. 

The court acquitted 23 others named as accused in the violence in the small town of Anand district. In all, 49 were accused in the massacre, of which one died during the trial. Two of the accused are absconding and have allegedly fled the country. A red corner notice has been issued against one of them. Of the 158 witnesses who testified in the trial, 35 turned hostile. 

The Ode massacre was one of nine sensitive 2002 riot cases the Supreme Court ordered the SIT to probe. A mob of nearly 1,500 people attacked a house in Ode's Pirawali Bhagol area in which panicky Muslims had taken shelter on March 1, 2002, burning alive 23 people -- nine children, nine woman and five men. 

The next day, the mob attacked and killed a senior citizen, Ghulam Rasool Saiyed. Fifteen men, who were already named in the first case, were also named in the second attack. Charges were dropped against the 15 on Monday in the Saiyed murder case due to lack of evidence. Saiyed's own children - son Asrar and daughter Farida - turned hostile in the case. 

The Ode massacre is the third case in the last 10 years, where a special court has pronounced verdict after an SIT probe. The first came in the Sabarmati Express carnage at Godhra, which triggered the riots after 59 people, mainly kar sevaks, were killed. Of the 31 people found guilty, 11 have been given the death sentence and 20 are serving life imprisonment terms. 

In the other case - the Sardarpura massacre in north Gujarat - the court has sentenced 31 people to life imprisonment and acquitted 42 others. Thirty-three people were killed in Sardarpura. 

The Gujarat high court is still grappling with a related issue in the Ode case. The police had filed just one FIR in two separate incidents - the killing of 23 people on March 1, 2002 and the murder of Ghulam Rasool Saiyed the next day. The cops, however, filed two separate chargesheets in the two cases, flummoxing legal experts. Witnesses say this is against the law and have approached the high court. 

Timeline 

March 1, 2002: Mob burns down a house in Pirawali Bhagol in Ode town, killing 23 people 

March 2, 2002: An elderly man, Ghulam Rasool Saiyed, is burnt alive by a mob at Suriwali Bhagol in the town 

November 21, 2003: SC stays proceedings in nine sensitive 2002 riot cases, including Ode massacre 

April 13, 2008: SC appoints special investigation team (SIT) to probe the riot cases 

November 12, 2009: Special court frames charges against 47 accused 

October 25, 2011: One of the under-trials - Bhurabhai Patel - passes away 

April 9, 2012: 23 found guilty, another 23 are acquitted 

Verdicts so far in key 2002 riot cases 

In October 2002, a sessions court acquitted former BJP MLA Kalu Malivad and eight others in the Kidiad massacre case, in which 72 people were killed. The Gujarat high court ordered a re-investigation and a chargesheet was filed against 23 new accused, but most of the witnesses turned hostile. 

A sessions court in Godhra acquitted 21 people in the Pandarvada massacre case in October 2002. As many as 39 persons were murdered in the massacre. The high court has ordered a fresh investigation. 

In November 2003, a sessions court in Nadiad convicts 15 persons for killing 14 persons in Ghodasar village of Kheda district. Forty-eight were acquitted. 

After the case was transferred outside Gujarat, a Mumbai court in February 2006 convicted nine persons in the Best Bakery massacre of Vadodara. Eight were acquitted. Fourteen people were killed by a mob. Key witness Zaheera Shaikh was convicted for perjury. 

On January 18, 2008, a CBI court in Mumbai sentenced 12 people to life imprisonment for killing 14 people in the Bilkis Bano case of Panchmahal. Seven people were acquitted. 

In February 2011, the SIT court convicted 31 for setting fire to the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, killing 59 people. Eleven people were awarded capital punishment and 20 others life imprisonment. 

Thirty-one people were awarded life imprisonment on November 9, 2011 for the Sardarpura massacre in which 33 Muslims were killed by the SIT court. As many as 42 were acquitted. 

On March 6, 2012, a city sessions court in Ahmedabad acquitted six people in a double murder case, in which a mother and son were burnt alive in Rakhial area. 

Those convicted of murder in Ode massacre 

Vinu Bhikha Patel 

Atul Dahya 

Vijay Ravji 

Dilip Vallabh 

Harish Vallabh 

Jayendra Satabhai 

Suresh Bhailal 

Dilip Vinu 

Paresh Ranchhod 

Arvind Ravji 

Hemant Satabhai alias Gokal 

Sanat Ranchhod 

Manu Jetha 

Dilip Ranchhod 

Poonam Lalji 

Dharmesh Natu 

Vinu Shana 

Natu Mangal 

Pravin Mangal 

Those guilty of attempt to murder 

Devang Harshad 

Girish Soma 

Prakash Jashbhai 

Dilip Shana 

The Times of India, 10 April, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gujarat-massacre-23-killed-23-guilty-23-acquitted/articleshow/12602099.cms


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