New Delhi: An Indian court jailed 11 Hindu attackers for life on Friday for murdering dozens of Muslims in one of the most notorious massacres of the 2002 Gujarat riots that shook India at a time Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the state's chief minister.
The court sentenced 12 others to seven years in jail over the killing of 69 Muslims, while another was handed a 10-year sentence, prosecutors told local television channels after the sentencing.
A Hindu mob scaled the boundary wall of the Gulbarg housing society in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's largest city, in February 2002 before torching the homes in which Muslim families were trapped.
Victims burned to death
Several victims were children and women who were burned to death.
The massacre was one of a series of riots that flared for two months in western Gujarat, killing more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims.
The riots dogged Modi's political career for years after he was accused of not doing enough to stop the violence.
Modi, a Hindu, denies any wrongdoing and in 2013 a panel appointed by the Supreme Court said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.
An Indian court this month convicted 24 Hindus for their role in the massacre at the Gulbarg housing society while acquitting 36.
The trial began in 2009.
Zakia Jafri, whose husband and former Congress party legislator, Ehsan, died in the blaze, said Friday's sentences were insufficient.
"I am not satisfied with this verdict. I have to start all over again. This is wrong," she told media.
Jafri, who is fighting what may be the last legal battle to pin blame on Modi, says that she saw her husband making repeated desperate calls to police for help.
Dragged out of his home
He was dragged out of his ancestral home by sword-wielding men and within minutes was stripped and killed, according to Jafri.
For more than a decade the riots tainted Modi's international reputation even as he rose in power at home, culminating in his 2014 general election victory.
The United States revoked Modi's visa in 2005 but allowed him to travel again after his election victory. Since then, Modi has projected an image of a modern, international leader and travelled widely.
Modi was feted by U.S. lawmakers on a visit to Washington this month, giving a speech to both houses of Congress in which he described India as a "modern nation, with freedom, democracy and equality as the essence of its soul".
‘Darkest day’
Calling the massacre of 69 people by a mob at the Gulbarg Society in Gujarat in 2002 the "darkest day in the history of civil society", a judge Friday sentenced 11 of the attackers to life in jail.
Following are the latest developments:
A special court in Ahmedabad also sentenced one person to 10 years in jail and 12 others, convicted of lesser offences, to seven years.
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"We are back where we started," said an upset Zakia Jafri, whose husband Ehsan Jafri, an ex-Congress lawmaker, was among those who killed in the mob attack.
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Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for all 24 convicted, arguing that those targeted, including women and children, were all "innocent people".
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Families of the victims had also been disappointed when the court on June 2 convicted 24 of the 66 people accused but acquitted 36 for want of evidence. Five people had died during trial and one is missing.
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The Gulbarg massacre, named after the housing complex in Ahmedabad, was one of the single worst losses of life in the riots that swept through Gujarat in 2002 leaving more than 1,000 people dead.
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The attack took place on February 28, a day after a mob torched coaches of the Sabarmati Express train at Godhra station leaving 59 people dead.
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Ehsan Jafri and many other Gulbarg residents were hacked and burnt to death. The former parliamentarian's frantic phone calls to police officers and senior politicians for help allegedly went unanswered.
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Among those acquitted in the Gulbarg case was Bipin Patel a four-time BJP corporator who was accused of being part of the mob and was charged with murder.
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The court rejected the charge of criminal conspiracy against all the 66 accused, saying there was no evidence that the mob attack was planned, as alleged by victims.
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The Gulbarg massacre is among the 10 major 2002 Gujarat riot cases re-investigated by a Special Investigation Team or SIT appointed by the Supreme Court.
