1,500-strong mob burnt 23 Muslims to death in Gujarat village, a day after 59 kar sevaks were burnt alive in Godhra in March 2002.
A decade after 23 people, including 18 women and children, were burnt alive by a mob in Gujarat’s Ode village during the riots following the Godhra incident, a court on Monday convicted 23 of the 47 accused and let off 23 for want of evidence. One of the accused is dead.
While holding the accused guilty of conspiracy under Section 120B of the IPC, the court termed the case “rarest of rare”. The quantum of sentence will be announced on April 12.
The Ode massacre case is the third among the 10 riot cases investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT in which a verdict has 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 of Mehsana, 31 people were sentenced to life imprisonment and 42 were acquitted.
Special public prosecutor PN Parmar said of the 23 found guilty, 18 were convicted for murder and criminal conspiracy and five for attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy.
On March 1, 2002, a day after 59 kar sevaks on the Sabarmati Express were burnt alive in Godhra, a mob of over 1,500 people attacked Muslims and set their houses and properties on fire in Ode village, 20km off Anand. As the mob torched houses, several Muslims took refuge in the house of one Akbar Khan, a highly respected villager. The mob attacked Khan’s house and set it on fire, killing 23 people.
Initially, the Gujarat police investigated the case, but in 2008 it was handed over
to the SIT. Of the 150 witnesses examined, 35 had turned hostile.
The SIT had based its case on the testimony of 12 key witnesses. Also, over 170 documentary evidences were placed before the court during trial.
Though families of those killed in the massacre are relieved, they say all the 46 accused were guilty. Mohammad Khan Pathan, a key witness who lost seven members of his family and was himself seriously injured, said they might move the high court against the sessions court judgment.
On the other hand, families of the convicted say they have been wrongly indicted. Madhuben, whose son Devang Patel is among the convicted, said: “We are victims of internal rivalry in our own community. My 35-year-old son is innocent.”
Prosecutor Parmar has sought capital punishment for those found guilty of mass murder and conspiracy. “We have asked the court to put the case in the rarest of rare category. But the court has held four accused guilty of attempt to murder under section 307 and acquitted 23 after giving them the benefit of doubt,” he said.
Defence lawyer CK Patel said the case could not be termed “rarest of rare”. “We will challenge the verdict in high court,” he said.
The trial began at the end of 2009 and was on the verge of completion when the judge hearing the case resigned in May 2011 citing personal reasons. All arguments were made afresh before Anand district and sessions judge Poonam Singh.
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