Indian court sentences 11 to life in jail over 2002 Gujarat communal riots

An Indian court Friday sentenced 11 men to life in jail for their role in a notorious massacre during the 2002 communal riots in the western state of Gujarat.

The court also handed down seven-year jail terms to 12 others who had been convicted for lesser offences in the massacre at Gulbarg Society, a highrise apartment building in Ahmedabad city.

Some 69 people, mostly Muslims, including former Congress lawmaker Ehsan Jafri, had died in the Gulbarg Society massacre after Hindu mobs attacked and set it on fire in February 2002.

Last week, the court had convicted 24 out of the 66 people accused in the case. While 36 people were acquitted for lack of evidence against them, five had died during trial and one is missing.

The court had, during course of the trial, rejected the charge of criminal conspiracy against all the 66 accused, which would have entailed death penalty.

Gulbarg Society was one of massacres during the communal riots in which over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died. The riots were sparked by a fire on a train that killed 60 Hindu pilgrims.

Critics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then chief minister of the state, accuse him of not acting during the riots.

However, Modi has denied any wrongdoing.

(APD)