Gulbarg Society case: Sentencing of 24 convicts pushed to 13 June

Ahmedabad: The special SIT court hearing the 2002 Gulbarg Society massacre is expected on Monday to fix the date for pronouncing the quantum of punishment for 24 convicted in connection with the killing of 69 people including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. After arguments on the quantum of sentence came to an end, with the final submission by prosecution on Friday, the special SIT court Judge PB Desai adjourned the hearing to 13 June, when he is expected to fix the date for handing out the quantum of punishment. During arguments, special public prosecutor and SIT counsel R C Kodekar submitted various Government Resolutions regarding the compensation to be given to the survivors and relatives of victims of Gulbarg. However, the court was not fully convinced with the submissions and said that there exists no straight jacket formula to decide about the compensation in such cases. [caption id=“attachment_2827384” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The court has adjourned the hearing of the Gulbarg case to 13 June. File photo. AFP[/caption] “Compensation to whom ? on what basis? to what extent ? It’s not as simple as you are demanding. How long we will drag this case ?” asked the judge. Demanding harsher punishment, Kodekar told the court that the case falls in the category of “rarest of rare” and the quantum of punishment should serve as a message to the society that such acts will not be tolerated. Earlier on Monday, prosecution had sought death penalty for all the 24 people convicted for the gruesome killings. The defence lawyers had however sought lenient punishment for the guilty. Today, the prosecution was given a chance to counter arguments put up by the defence counsel. To emphasise his view about giving stricter punishment, Kodekar told the court that those involved in the ghastly act of killing the residents of Gulbarg were either known to them or their neighbours, not terrorists. “There is difference between a terrorist act and an act of murder by the neighbours. Yakub Memon, Afzal Guru and Kasab were either terrorists or supporters of an alien country’s notions. In this case, I can say that ‘Bhai ne bhai ko mara’ (brother killed his brother). They were friends and neighbours of the victims,” said Kodekar. Though the court had already ruled out the conspiracy angle in its earlier judgement, Kodekar maintained that the convicts had decided to kill the minority community residents of Gulbarg “from the very first moment”. “Witnesses said that the mob were chanting two slogans ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Kill Muslims’. They surrounded the society from all sides. It shows that they have already made up their minds to kill Muslims” submitted Kodekar, who urged the court to award punishment of life until death, if not the capital punishment, to the convicts. Lawyer of victims, SM Vora too demanded maximum punishment for the convicts. At one point, the judge stopped him from making further submissions, saying that similar submissions were already made by SIT lawyer. When Vora insisted, Desai asked him if he feels that SIT has not done its job properly. “The arguments cannot continue endlessly. It has to end somewhere. I will announce the date for final judgement on quantum on Monday,” said Desai after stopping Vora midway during his submissions. Upset after today’s proceedings, Vora told media outside the court that SIT should have put the case in a more effective way. He claimed that the SIT and its lawyers have failed to highlight the conspiracy angle during the trial. Yesterday, lawyer for accused Abhay Bhardwaj presented lengthy arguments against demands for capital punishment or life sentence till death. Bhardwaj said the court should consider mitigating circumstances for convicts including their prior criminal record, age, socio-economic background, possibility of rehabilitation, and whether they can reform, before pronouncing their sentence. The SIT court had on 2 June convicted 24 people and acquitted 36 others, while dropping conspiracy charges. Out of the total 66 accused, six had died during the trial, nine are behind bars at present while others are out on bail. Of the 24 convicted, 11 have been charged with murder, while 13 others including VHP leader Atul Vaidya, have been convicted for lesser offences. The Gulbarg Society massacre here took place on 28 February, 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. It was one of the nine cases of the 2002 Gujarat riots probed by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT. The incident had taken place a day after S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was burnt near Godhra train station in which 58 kar sevaks going to Ayodhya were killed. The Supreme Court, which has been monitoring the case, had directed the SIT court to give its verdict by 31 May. During the course of trial, as many as 338 witnesses were cross-examined, with four different judges having presided over the case. Of the 66 accused named by the SIT in the case, nine are behind bars, while others are out on bail.