A special SIT court is likely to pronounce the quantum of sentence today for the 24 convicted in the Gulberg Society massacre in which 69 persons including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafrey were killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Bhardwaj has also pleaded that eight of the witnesses could not identify the convicts, demanding minimum punishment. They had demanded life imprisonment and fine for the convicts.
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During the arguments, the prosecution stuck to its stand that the convicts be awarded maximum sentence for the mass murder while defence counsel argued that the convicts, the 11 held guilty of murder, should not be given capital punishment.
The special public prosecutor of SIT, RC Kodekar, had told the special court that capital punishment for the 24 convicted was justified as the Gulbarg massacre was the “rarest of the rare”. The defence lawyer has appealed for a second chance for the convicts, on the grounds of a clean criminal record. The Gulberg Society massacre here on February 28, 2002 when Narendra Modi was Gujarat Chief Minister shook the nation when a mob of 400 people set about attacking the society in the heart of Ahmedabad and killed the residents including Jafri.
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The prosecution has sought death sentence or jail term till death for all the convicts while the defence lawyers had contested it saying that the incident was spontaneous and there were enough provocations for it. Out of the total 66 accused, six had died during the trial. The judgement date – when the quantum of the punishment will be announced – will be decided on Monday. The court has also rejected the conspiracy charges by the prosecution in the case. The court acquitted 36 persons including a former police official and a local BJP leader for want of evidence against them. The Supreme Court had appointed a Special Investigating Team to probe all the nine cases.
