Ahmedabad: Gujarat high court on Thursday upheld conviction of 17 accused and acquitted 14 others of murder and rioting charges in the post-Godhra massacre of Sardarpura.
Thirty-three persons, including 17 women and 11children, were burnt alive when a violent mob locked the room from outside and set it ablaze in this north Gujarat village in Mehsana district on March 1, 2002. A special SIT court had in 2011convicted 31, handing them life imprisonment. The convicts challenged the verdict in Gujarat high court in 2012. All those whose convictions were upheld by HC belong to the Patidar community . Of 14 persons acquitted on Thursday , abench of Justice Harsha Devani and Justice Biren Vaishnav granted benefit of doubt to 11 and did not find evidence against three others, said advocate Yusuf Shaikh, who represented witness-survivors.
In the order dictated over a month, the HC adopted an SC order as yardstick to evaluate evidence. "The apex court had ruled that evidence by one consistent witness is admissible in normal cases. In riot cases, having multiple witnesses and different versions, at least two consistent witnesses, implicating a particular accused are required for conviction," said defence advocate N L Jain.
Thirty-three persons, including 17 women and 11children, were burnt alive when a violent mob locked the room from outside and set it ablaze in this north Gujarat village in Mehsana district on March 1, 2002. A special SIT court had in 2011convicted 31, handing them life imprisonment. The convicts challenged the verdict in Gujarat high court in 2012. All those whose convictions were upheld by HC belong to the Patidar community . Of 14 persons acquitted on Thursday , abench of Justice Harsha Devani and Justice Biren Vaishnav granted benefit of doubt to 11 and did not find evidence against three others, said advocate Yusuf Shaikh, who represented witness-survivors.
In the order dictated over a month, the HC adopted an SC order as yardstick to evaluate evidence. "The apex court had ruled that evidence by one consistent witness is admissible in normal cases. In riot cases, having multiple witnesses and different versions, at least two consistent witnesses, implicating a particular accused are required for conviction," said defence advocate N L Jain.