18 get lifer in the 2002 Ode massacre case in India's Gujarat state

Anand (Gujarat, India), Apr 12 (PTI) A designated court here hasawarded life sentence to 18 people and handed out seven-year jail terms to five others in connection with the massacre of 23 people in Gujarat's Ode village during the 2002 post-Godhra communal riots. District and Sessions judge Poonam Singh pronounced the sentence on Thursday after she had held the 18 people guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy and the five of attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy in her judgment in the case on Monday. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,800 each on the accused sentenced to life imprisonment and Rs 3,800 each on the five convicts awarded jail term for seven years. The pronouncement of the verdict caused uproar among the family members and relatives of the convicts who were standing inside the court campus and many of them broke down. "There is no evidence against the accused. This is injustice, this is not the temple of justice but temple of injustice," the relatives alleged. Twenty-three people, including nine women and as many children of the Muslim community, were burnt to death in a house in Pirwali Bhagol area of Ode village of Anand district by a mob of over 1,500 on March one, 2002 following the Godhra train burning incident that had triggered a communal conflagration across the state. In the Godhra train burning incident, a coach of the Sabarmati Express train, in which 59 people, mostly kar sevaks (Hindu volunteers) coming back from Ayodhya in the northern Uttar Pradesh where they had gone to do free labour for the Ram temple, was burnt on February 27, 2002 at the Godhra station. Out of the total 47 accused, the court had convicted 23 and acquitted as many and one of them had died during the course of trial. Meanwhile, counsel Ashwin Dhagad said that the defence would challenge the verdict in the high court. More than 150 witnesses were examined by the court, while over 170 documentary evidences were also placed before the court. This is the second major post-Godhra riot case where more than 18 people have been sentenced to life imprisonment. Earlier, in the Sardarpura riot case of Mehsana district 31 persons were awarded life term while 42 others were acquitted. In the Godhra train burning case, court had awarded death sentence to 11 people and 20 were given life imprisonment. Ode riot case is one of the nine cases that was probed by a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team led by R K Raghavan, a former director of India's Central Bureau of Investigation. PTI