3 sentenced to 10 years in jail for Naroda Patiya killings

The Gujarat High Court on Monday sentenced three men to 10 years in jail in the 2002 Naroda Patiya massacre.

A divisional bench of Justice Harsha Devani and Justice A S Supehia pronounced the quantum of punishment for Rajkumar Chamal, Umesh Bharwad and Parmendra Rajput. A lower court had acquitted the trio which was overturned by the HC earlier this year.

The three were convicted for arson and being part of a mob that killed over 90 Muslims in the riots that followed the Sabarmati Train burning incident at Godhra.

The HC refused to show any mercy given the seriousness of the crime and rejected the defence counsel's contention that their families will face hardship due to the sentencing.

The court observed that Chamal was a lawyer and Rajput a teacher and such professionals indulging in heinous crimes sent a wrong message to the society. It also observed that the incident had left several people homeless pushing them into refugee camps for months.

A special investigation team court had earlier convicted 32 people in the Naroda Patiya case while 29 were acquitted.