Sardarpura case verdict:42 acquitted, life term to 31

Mehsana, 9 November, 2011

The special fast-track court in Mehsana today acquitted 42 of the 73 persons accused in the 2002 Sardarpura riots case, where 33 persons including 20 women were charred to death during the communal violence that broke out after Godhra train burning incident.

Out of the 42, the court has found 11 to be not guilty while the remaining would have to furnish personal bonds to walk free. The remaining 31 persons have been found guilty and are awarded life imprisonment. All the 73 were charged for murder, attempt to murder, arson, rioting, criminal conspiracy among others. In all 76 accused were arrested out of whom two died during the pendency of trial, while one was juvenile, against whom trial was on in juvenile court.

Sardarpura riots case is the first post-Godhra riot case, probed by Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), on which verdict has been pronounced. According to case details, a mob had torched a house of one Ibrahim Sheikh of Sardarpura village in Vijapur taluka where number of persons had taken shelter after riots broke out in the village on night of February 28,2002.