Breaking: Gulbarg verdict convicts 24 out of 66, BJP leader acquitted

Fourteen years after the massacre at Ahmedabad’s Gulbarg Society during the 2002 riots in Gujarat, a special court pronounced its verdict. Twenty-four were convicted, 11 of whom have been convicted for murder. Thirty-six have been acquitted. Among those acquitted is Bharatiya Janata Party’s four-time corporator Bipin Patel, who was accused of murder and rioting, along with police inspector KG Erda and Congress corporator Meghsinh Chaudhari. Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Atul Vaid has been convicted.

In 2002, a day after a coach on Sabarmati Express was set on fire leading to the death of 58 kar sevaks, a mob of 20,000 attacked the predominantly-Muslim Gulbarg Society. Houses were set on fire and 69 people were dragged out of their homes, hacked and burnt to death. It took seven years for the massacre at Gulbarg Society to go to trial. The special investigation team had said in court that there was proof that 39 people had been burnt alive.

Zakia Jafri, whose husband Ehsan (a Congress lawmaker), was burnt alive in the massacre, said, “I am very unhappy with the judgement. I will carry on the fight, will do whatever it takes.”

The court will announce its sentences on June 6, 2016. Lawyer Teesta Setalvad has said that the option of appealing against the 36 being acquitted was “open”.