'Will appeal in higher courts': Who said what after the Gulbarg Society massacre verdict

Fourteen years after the Gujarat riots, a special court on Thursday gave its verdict on the Gulbarg Society massacre, convicting 24 of the 66 accused. Eleven of the accused have been convicted of serious crimes such as murder, but the court has dropped all charges of criminal conspiracy.

The verdict got mixed reactions from the victims’ kin and social activists. There has been no official comments from the BJP after the verdict was delivered. Here is who said what after the verdict was released. Zakia Jafri (Wife of Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri) No I am not satisfied with the verdict. I did not like it. All should have been given punishment for what they did and what they did not. I know it all and as I have seen the massacre. I expected all to be convicted…how they killed people, how they made them homeless, I saw it myself. I can’t dare to ask for capital punishment but maximum punishment should be given. They should be given life imprisonment so they could know the pain of staying away from their family and children.

Teesta Setalvad (Social activist) We will study the judgement, we definitely believe that this is the case of criminal conspiracy and we will exercise our right of appeal in it_._

Tanveer Jafri (Ehsaan Jafri’s son) It was a big society with 15-20 bungalows and 10 apartments with 400-500 occupants. So how can 24 people loot and burn the entire society for 24 hours and kill so many people in such a brutal manner. So that way it looks very odd. We are satisfied with conviction of 24 people, but for 36 acquitted, we will go in for an appeal after discussing with our lawyers. RK Raghavan (Headed SIT probe) I have a mixed feeling as some were convicted while others acquitted. I shall be able to comment more only after looking at the order.