The seven men convicted in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots were given a life sentence today by a local court in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Additional district and sessions judge Himanshu Bhatnagar had held Muzammil, Mujassim, Furkan, Nadeem, Janangir, Afzal and Iqbal guilty of rioting and killing two men earlier this week.

The communal clashes that took place in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli in 2013 left 62 dead, 93 injured, and over 50,000 displaced. The seven convicts were found guilty of killing Gaurav and Sachin on August 27, 2013, in Kawal village, which is believed to have triggered the riots. Economic Times reports that five of the convicts had battered the two men to death. The other two, Afzal and Iqbal, were summoned by the court “when the evidence of their complicity in the killings emerged during the trial”. Ten prosecution witnesses were examined.

ET also reports that the prosecution counsel had said 6,000 cases were lodged after the riots and 1,480 accused were arrested. A special investigation team filed chargesheets in 175 of the cases and 56 resulted in acquittals. Last month, the Uttar Pradesh government wrote to the district magistrate and the senior superintendent of police of Muzaffarnagar asking that cases of inciting riots against BJP leaders be withdrawn.