Ahmedabad: After 14 long years, a Special Sessions Court here on Thursday convicted 24 people and pronounced 36 others as innocent in the sensational Gulberg Society massacre case in Gujarat in which 69 people, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, were brutally killed in 2002 in Ahmedabad.
All the persons convicted were on bail.
Noteworthy, one of the accused, Bipin Patel, who is a BJP Councillor, has been acquitted. Bipin was also the corporator in 2002 when the massacre happened.
Ehsan Jafri’s widow Zakia has said that it’s sad that 36 have been let off. “Complete justice has not been done; I will continue to fight,” Zakia Jafri was quoted as saying.
Special Court Judge PB Desai pronounced the judgment. The quantum of punishment will be announced on 6 June.
Of the 66 people who have been chargesheeted, nine have been in the judicial custody for 14 years. Five accused died during the trial period and the rest are out on bail.
A mob carrying weapons allegedly attacked residents of the Gulberg Society situated in Chamanpura area of Ahmedabad and burnt down 29 bungalows and 10 apartments.