BackGulbarg case: Court to pronounce quantum of punishment on 17 June
A special trial court in Ahmedabad fixed 17 June as the date for pronouncing the quantum of punishment for the 24 men convicted in the Gulbarg massacre case
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Ahmedabad: A special trial court in Ahmedabad on Monday said that it has fixed 17 June as the date for pronouncing the quantum of punishment for the 24 men convicted in the Gulbarg massacre case.
The prosecution demanded either capital punishment or life imprisonment for the convicts. Advocate S.M. Vora, appearing for the victims, had demanded “exemplary punishment" for the 24 persons found guilty.
The defence lawyer Abhay Bhardwaj last week appealed for a second chance for the convicts, on the grounds of a clean criminal record. Bhardwaj also pleaded that eight of the witnesses could not identify the convicts, demanding minimum punishment.
On 2 June, special court judge P.B. Desai convicted 24 of the 66 accused, in the Gulbarg society massacre, which left 69 people, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, dead.
Of the 24 convicted, 11 were charged with murder, while 13 others, including Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Atul Vaidya, were convicted for lesser offences. Out of the 66 accused, six died during the trial.
Those acquitted include sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator Bipin Patel, former police inspector K.G. Erda and former Congress corporator Meghsinh Chaudhari.
A large mob attacked the predominantly Muslim populated Gulbarg society on 28 February 2002, a day after coaches of the Sabarmati Express train were burnt at Godhra station leaving 59 people dead.
The case was investigated by a special investigation team (SIT) formed by the Supreme Court to reinvestigate the nine cases of riots that took place in Gujarat in 2002. The SIT trial concluded on 22 September 2015.
While pronouncing the judgement on 2 June, the court had said there was no evidence of criminal conspiracy in the case and dropped charges under section 120-B of the IPC.
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