Special judge Poonam Singh will pronounce punishment to the 23 accused, who were held guilty in the Ode massacre case, on Thursday. Earlier, on Monday, the judge had acquitted 23 accused and decided to pronounce quantum of sentence on April 12.
The Ode case is the third among the 10 riot cases investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in which the verdict had been delivered.
Earlier, in the Godhra train burning case, 11 people were sentenced to death and 20 to life imprisonment for conspiracy and murder. In the Sardarpura massacre case in Mehsana, 31 accused were awarded life sentence and 42 acquitted.
Further, the Ode case is the first post-Godhra riots case in which the court had found the accused guilty of conspiracy and convicted them under Section 120B of the IPC. In the Sardarpura massacre case, the special court had sentenced 31 accused to life imprisonment but had not upheld the conspiracy (120B) theory put forth by the SIT.
On March 1, 2002, a day after 59 karsevaks were burnt alive in the Sabarmati Express carnage at Godhra, a mob of over 1,500 people attacked and set on fire Muslim houses and properties in Ode village, 20 km from Anand.
As the mob torched houses and chased members of the minority community, several Muslims took refuge in the house of one Akbar Khan, a highly respected resident of the village. The victims had hoped that the rioters would go away but the mob attacked Khan's house and set it on fire too.
A total of 23 people, including nine women and nine children, were burnt alive that day. The remains of only two victims, Sikandarmiya and his daughter Guddi, could be recovered as the bodies of others had been reduced to ashes. A total of 274 properties in the village were burnt during the communal frenzy.
The case was first investigated by the Gujarat police. But, in 2008, it was among the 10 cases handed over to the SIT for investigation on the orders of the Supreme Court.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}