D-day arrived after 14 years, but left a bitter-sweet taste in the mouths of those who were expecting complete deliverance.
D-day arrived after 14 years, but left a bitter-sweet taste in the mouths of those who were expecting complete deliverance. A special court here on Thursday delivered its verdict in the gruesome massacre of 69 persons, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, in Ahmedabad’s Gulberg Society on February 28, 2002, convicting 24 of the 66 accused, and acquitted 36, including sitting BJP corporator Bipin Patel.
Of the 24 found guilty, 11 were charged with murder, and 13, including VHP leader Atul Vaidya, convicted for lesser offences.
Delivering the verdict, special court judge P.B. Desai said there is no evidence of criminal conspiracy in the case. The conspiracy charge was dropped against all.
The quantum of sentence for those convicted in the case will be delivered on June 6.
Reacting to the judgment, Zakia Jafri, wife of Ehsan Jafri, expressed disappointment, saying all of the accused should have been punished because they killed people and destroyed their property.
“I saw them doing so with my own eyes,” she said, adding that as a woman she does not have the courage to demand capital punishment but they should get stringent punishment.
“When they (those acquitted by court) will be separated from their loved ones, they will realise what we went through. My fight should have stopped but looking at today’s judgement the fight will continue,” she said.
Her son Tanvir Jafri said he would consult lawyers on how 36 others were acquitted before deciding their next strategy.
Tanvir expressed surprise how only 24 people were convicted when a mob of 400 was involved in the rioting.
Congress corporator Meghsinh Chaudhari and K.G. Erda, then police inspector of the area under which the Gulberg Society was located, are among those acquitted.
The Gulberg Society massacre — a day after S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was burnt near Godhra train station on February 27, 2002, during which 58 ‘karsevaks’ were killed — shook the nation. A mob of 400 people attacked the society in the heart of Ahmedabad and killed 69 residents. It was one of the nine cases of the 2002 Gujarat riots probed by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigative Team (SIT).
R.K. Raghavan, who headed the Supreme Court-appointed SIT to probe the 2002 Gujarat riots, said he has “mixed feelings” about the verdict.
“I have mixed feelings as some were convicted while others acquitted. I shall be able to comment more only after looking at the order,” Mr Raghavan, a former CBI director, said.
The Supreme Court, which has been monitoring the case, had directed the SIT court to give its verdict by May 31.
Activist Teesta Setalvad, whose NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), took up the cases of victims of the Gujarat riots, said, “All I can say after 14 years of struggle is that we welcome and respect the judgment. Till we actually study the final points of the judgement, I cannot say anything more. But people don’t realise what it means to undertake a struggle like this. Highest tribute must go to the survivors for their testimonies in the face of huge hostility... to the CJP team and the lawyers who stood by the victims. We will study the judgement We definitely believe that this is a case of criminal conspiracy and we will exercise our right of appeal in it.”
Of the 66 accused named by the SIT in the case, nine are behind bars, six passed away during the trial, and others are out on bail.
Bipin Patel, who has been acquitted in the case, is a sitting BJP corporator from Asarva, where the Gulberg society is located. He was a corporator in 2002 when the massacre took place and won the election for fourth consecutive term last year.
During the trial, lawyer representing the riot victim and their families had argued that the massacre was a pre-planned criminal conspiracy hatched by the accused to kill minority community members of the Gulberg Society.
The defence had refuted the conspiracy theory, claiming that the mob resorted to violence only after Jafri fired several rounds at them.
The Congress has welcomed the conviction of 24 out of the 66 accused in the case, including a VHP leader, saying justice has been delivered to the victims.
Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said, “We haven’t read the verdict completely. I do hope final justice is done to the victims. Accusations have been made and cross accusations have been made. Finally we believe that justice has been done,” he said.
