Court acquits 109 persons in Umta village 2002 riots case

A local court on Friday acquitted 109 persons who were accused of killing two people in Umta village of this taluka in Mahasana district during the post Godhra riots of 2002.

Additional Sessions Judge KB Meghanani released all the accused giving them benefit of doubt in the case.

The court said that the prosecution was not able to clearly establish the role of the accused.

On February 28, 2002, a violent mob of over 1,500 people had burnt down many homes and business establishment of minority community members at Umta.

During the rioting, one retired teacher Mohammad Sheikh and Abdul Mansuri were taken away by the crowd, beaten up and killed. However, their mortal remains were not recovered by the investigating agencies.

Chargesheet in the case was filed against 120 persons, however, 11 people died during the course of trial.

74 witnesses were examined, and except for the relatives of those killed and the police, most of the other witnesses turned hostile, public prosecutor in the case N J Barot said.

The case was investigated by local police and relatives of the victims were not satisfied with the investigations.