2 min readAhmedabadJun 26, 2018 12:15 AM IST
First published on: Jun 26, 2018 at 12:15 AM IST
The Gujarat High Court on Monday sentenced three convicts of the 2002 Naroda Patiya massacre case to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Stating that “punishment must be consistent with the brutality with which the crime was committed,” the Gujarat High Court on Monday sentenced three convicts of the 2002 Naroda Patiya massacre case to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
The three — former teacher P J Rajput, lawyer Rajkumar Chaumal alias Raju and grocery shop owner Umesh Bharwad — were earlier acquitted by the trial court. But the High Court found them guilty of being part of a mob that killed 96 people in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Patiya area during the post-Godhra riots of 2002.
While pronouncing the quantum of sentence, the Division Bench of Justice Harsha Devani and Justice A S Supehia observed that the three convicts did not deserve “mercy or any leniency” considering the nature of the crime that they had committed.
“The magnitude of destruction was on a largescale. Homes, shops and religious places belonging to the minority community were set on fire, they were compelled to shift to refugee camps…. The court cannot set aside the agony and anguish of the victims…Offences are not against individuals but society at large, and have consequences of polarising society…Imposing too lenient a sentence would amount to travesty of justice…The crimes committed by them were against society and therefore, their punishment must be consistent with the brutality with which the crime was committed… Imposition of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment would be adequate punishment,” the order stated.
In April this year, the High Court had convicted 16 people, including Rajput, Chaumal and Bharwad, and acquitted 18 others, including former BJP minister Maya Kodnani, who were convicted by the trial court in 2012.
After their conviction, the trio had sought further hearing on the quantum of sentence, saying that they were not properly represented.
The High Court on Monday gave them six weeks’ time to surrender before the police.
The Gujarat High Court on Monday sentenced three convicts of the 2002 Naroda Patiya massacre case to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
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