'Convicted', 'acquitted', 'massacre', 'victory': How leading dailies covered Gulbarg Society verdict

More than 14 years after the ghastly Gulbarg massacre that killed 69 people including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, 24 people were on Thursday convicted by a special court in Ahmedabad which acquitted 36 others and dropped conspiracy charges against all the accused in one of the worst riots post-Godhra violence in Gujarat. [caption id=“attachment_2812352” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of the survivors of the 2002 Gujarat riots inside a house that was burnt and damaged in the riots at the Gulbarg Society. Reuters[/caption] Eleven of the 24 accused were convicted for murder under Section 302 of the IPC by special judge PB Desai who convicted others for lesser offences. Out of the 66 accused, six had died during the trial. Sitting BJP corporator Bipin Patel was among the acquitted while VHP leader Atul Vaid figures among the 13 convicted for lesser offences. KG Erda, then police inspector at the Meghaninagar police station — under whose jurisdiction Gulbarg Society comes — and former Congress corporator Meghsinh Chaudhari were among those who were acquitted. Dropping Section 120 B of the IPC, the court held that there is no evidence of criminal conspiracy in the case . The dropping of conspiracy charge could result in lesser sentencing in jail. The quantum of sentence will be announced on 6 June. This is how leading Indian daily newspapers covered the story: The Indian Express