NEW DELHI, 15 December 2005 — A special court in the western Indian state of Gujarat yesterday sentenced 11 people to life imprisonment for killing Muslims during communal riots in 2002, news reports said.
The fast track court, which examined over 80 witnesses in the case, acquitted 18 other accused for lack of evidence, PTI news agency reported.
Four women and five children were among the 11 people who were attacked by a mob with sharp weapons, killed and thrown into two wells in Panchmahal district of Gujarat. Two elderly people were burned alive.
The riots broke out after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was allegedly set on fire by a mob in the town of Godhra, 136 kilometers east of state capital Gandhinagar.
More than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the widespread violence that followed.
The Gujarat government of the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has been criticized for not doing enough to stop the riots. There have been very few cases against the rioters and only a handful of convictions.
