16 Ode accused file bail plea

The sixteen persons accused in the Ode massacre case have filed a bail application in the Gujarat high court after they were arrested by the supreme court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) couple of months ago. A bench of the high court has posted the hearing for December 29.

Twenty-three persons belonging to a minority community were killed in Ode village in Anand district on March 1, 2002, in the aftermath of the Sabaramati Express train carnage on February 27. The local police had lodged an FIR about the incident against a group of rioters. On the next day, during a funeral procession, riots flared up again and one aged person of a minority community was killed by the enraged mob. However, the police did not lodge a complaint regarding the incident.

Hardik Dave, counsel for accused, has submitted that, the accused have been falsely implicated in the case and they should be released on bail. Statements of witnesses taken by the SIT are highly contradictory as they had not named the accused during the investigation by local police they contended. However, counsel for SIT, Ajay Choksi and Vaibhav Upadhyay contended that, the accused are involved in the case and the SIT has ample evidence against them including statements of the eye witnesses.