Ahmedabad: In a long-due verdict, a special fast track court here on Tuesday found 31 accused guilty of involvement in the Godhra train burning case in which 59 people were burnt to death, triggering the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat.
The court meanwhile let off 63 other accused, among them ‘key conspirator’ Maulvi Ummarji.
Ummarji, who was described as the mastermind by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), was acquitted for lack of evidence against him.
Significantly, the court agreed that the Godhra carnage was pre-planned as it found the 31 accused guilty of criminal conspiracy.
The 31 were convicted under Sections 149, 302, 307, 323, 324, 325, 326, 332, 395, 397, and 436 of the Indian Penal Code and some sections of the Railway Act and Bombay Police Act.
The hearing on the quantum of punishment will take place on Friday, i.e. February 25 and will be announced the same day.
Stringent security had been put in place ahead of the verdict.
The verdict was delivered in the confines of the Sabarmati Central Jail here, by Additional Sessions Judge PR Patel.
The verdict is the first by any court in India in the Gujarat riots related cases. Nine different courts are trying the 2002 Gujarat riots cases, in which the Supreme Court had ordered a probe by a SIT.
The fast track court had reserved its judgment in September last year.
After completion of the hearing, the verdict could not be delivered in view of a Supreme Court stay, which was lifted on October 26, 2010.
A total of 104 people underwent trial in the case. Out of them, 86 are lodged inside the Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad. Thirteen accused are out on bail and five others are juvenile accused.
The alleged prime conspirators in the case include Maulvi Ummarji, Rajjab Kurkur, Nanumiya and Salim Yusuf Sattar Jarda.
Salim Panwala is absconding and is believed to be in Pakistan. Other accused include Jabir Behra, who has made a confessional statement under POTA, Mohmmad Latika and Hasan Lalu.
According to the prosecution, the accused hatched the conspiracy to torch the train in a guest house in Godhra. They decided to execute the plan near A Cabin as it was a minority dominated area.
According to the chargesheet filed in the case, 59 people were killed in the S6 coach of Sabarmati Express when an unidentified mob of around 900 to 1,000 people attacked it near Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002.
Most of the people killed in the attack were 'kar sevaks', or volunteers who were returning from Ayodhya.
The incident, which was labelled as a conspiracy, triggered state-wide communal violence, in which over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.
The Nanavati Commission, appointed by the state government to probe the carnage, had in the first part of the report concluded that the fire in the S6 coach was not an accident, but it was caused by throwing petrol inside it.
"The burning of the coach S6 was a pre-planned act. In other words there was a conspiracy to burn the coach of the train coming from Ayodhya and to cause harm to the karsevaks travelling in it," the report, submitted to the government in September 2008, said.
Initially, all the accused were facing charges under the stringent Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).
However, POTA charges were revoked by the Gujarat High Court in the Godhra case following the recommendations of the Central POTA Review Committee. The Supreme Court also rejected a petition challenging the constitutional validity of POTA (repeal) Act, 2004.
Similarly, many issues related to the case, where the questions of law have been raised by either prosecution or defence, are pending either in the Supreme Court or the High Court.
Now, the accused face criminal charges under the Indian Penal Code and other laws like Indian Railways Act.
The special trial court concluded the trial inside the Sabarmati Central Prison as the state government imposed statutory limitation on the mobility of the accused under provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The trial in the case had begun with the court framing charges against the accused in June 2009. During the trial, the court had examined 254 prosecution witnesses.
The court meanwhile let off 63 other accused, among them ‘key conspirator’ Maulvi Ummarji.
Ummarji, who was described as the mastermind by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), was acquitted for lack of evidence against him.
The 31 were convicted under Sections 149, 302, 307, 323, 324, 325, 326, 332, 395, 397, and 436 of the Indian Penal Code and some sections of the Railway Act and Bombay Police Act.
The hearing on the quantum of punishment will take place on Friday, i.e. February 25 and will be announced the same day.
Stringent security had been put in place ahead of the verdict.
The verdict was delivered in the confines of the Sabarmati Central Jail here, by Additional Sessions Judge PR Patel.
The verdict is the first by any court in India in the Gujarat riots related cases. Nine different courts are trying the 2002 Gujarat riots cases, in which the Supreme Court had ordered a probe by a SIT.
The fast track court had reserved its judgment in September last year.
After completion of the hearing, the verdict could not be delivered in view of a Supreme Court stay, which was lifted on October 26, 2010.
A total of 104 people underwent trial in the case. Out of them, 86 are lodged inside the Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad. Thirteen accused are out on bail and five others are juvenile accused.
The alleged prime conspirators in the case include Maulvi Ummarji, Rajjab Kurkur, Nanumiya and Salim Yusuf Sattar Jarda.
Salim Panwala is absconding and is believed to be in Pakistan. Other accused include Jabir Behra, who has made a confessional statement under POTA, Mohmmad Latika and Hasan Lalu.
According to the prosecution, the accused hatched the conspiracy to torch the train in a guest house in Godhra. They decided to execute the plan near A Cabin as it was a minority dominated area.
According to the chargesheet filed in the case, 59 people were killed in the S6 coach of Sabarmati Express when an unidentified mob of around 900 to 1,000 people attacked it near Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002.
Most of the people killed in the attack were 'kar sevaks', or volunteers who were returning from Ayodhya.
The incident, which was labelled as a conspiracy, triggered state-wide communal violence, in which over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.
The Nanavati Commission, appointed by the state government to probe the carnage, had in the first part of the report concluded that the fire in the S6 coach was not an accident, but it was caused by throwing petrol inside it.
"The burning of the coach S6 was a pre-planned act. In other words there was a conspiracy to burn the coach of the train coming from Ayodhya and to cause harm to the karsevaks travelling in it," the report, submitted to the government in September 2008, said.
Initially, all the accused were facing charges under the stringent Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).
However, POTA charges were revoked by the Gujarat High Court in the Godhra case following the recommendations of the Central POTA Review Committee. The Supreme Court also rejected a petition challenging the constitutional validity of POTA (repeal) Act, 2004.
Similarly, many issues related to the case, where the questions of law have been raised by either prosecution or defence, are pending either in the Supreme Court or the High Court.
Now, the accused face criminal charges under the Indian Penal Code and other laws like Indian Railways Act.
The special trial court concluded the trial inside the Sabarmati Central Prison as the state government imposed statutory limitation on the mobility of the accused under provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The trial in the case had begun with the court framing charges against the accused in June 2009. During the trial, the court had examined 254 prosecution witnesses.
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