AHMEDABAD: A special SIT court on Monday sentenced 21 people to life imprisonment for attempt to murder and arson in the 2002 post-Godhra riot of Dipda Darwaza in which 11 Muslims were killed in Visnagar town of north Gujarat. All the victims belonged to the same family.
In addition to the 21 found guilty, M K Patel, the then police inspector of Visnagar and also the first investigator of the killing, was sent to jail for one year for dereliction of duty, making him the first police officer to be convicted in a post-Godhra case.
Designated judge S C Srivastava acquitted 61 others, including former BLP MLA Prahlad Gosa and the then Visnagar municipality president Dahyabhai Patel, both accused of conspiracy and inciting mobs. This was one of the nine 2002 riot cases transferred to the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) for further probe. Five of these cases have now seen convictions.
All convicts except one — Ashok Parmar — belong to the politically powerful Patel community. No murder and criminal conspiracy charges were proved in this case and all accused were absolved of destruction of evidence charges.
The verdict comes at a time when Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is wooing minorities through his sadbhavana mission. To establish his secular credentials, he recently told an Urdu weekly that convictions were taking place in riots cases.
The victims, including four children and five women, were killed in Chudiwas of Dipda Darwaza on February 28, 2002. Their remains were found near a pond, about a kilometer from Chudiwas.
The court awarded the sentence after defence lawyers argued that the DNA samples of the victims’ kin didn’t match with the remains. The lawyers insisted the 11 people named as victims were not at the spot and were missing at the time. They also claimed the killers were from outside Visnagar, and not the ones named.
Relatives of the victims say they will continue their fight for justice. “We are disappointed with the verdict. We will challenge the decision in a higher court,” said Yusufkhan Muradkhan, from the targetted family.
The 21 have been convicted of various offences, including rioting, causing hurt and criminal intimidation. They have been ordered to pay fines, ranging between Rs 8,000 and 10,000. The convicted former cop will pay Rs 500 for two offences.
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