Conspiracy charge upheld for first time,23 convicted for Ode killings

Of the 23 convicted,19 have been found guilty of murder and conspiracy.

Just over a decade after two dozen Muslims were massacred in Ode during the 2002 riots of Gujarat,a specially appointed court on Monday convicted 23 people from the Patel community while acquitting 23 for want of evidence. One of the accused died during the trial.

Of the 23 convicted,19 have been found guilty of murder and conspiracy and the rest of attempt to murder along with allied criminal charges. This is the first post-Godhra riots case in which the court has upheld conspiracy charge against the accused. The quantum of sentence will be announced on April 12.

Additional Sessions Judge Poonam Singh kept media out of the court room as she pronounced verdicts in two separate incidents of March 1 and 2,2002,that happened in Ode. While 23 people were burnt alive by a riotous mob on March 1,an 80-year-old man had been set afire the next day as a mob gathered following the funeral of a young boy from the Patel community killed in police firing.

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All the 14 accused in the murder of the 80-year-old,Gulam Rasool Saiyed,were acquitted by the court.

In the other case,the mob had locked a three-storey building where fleeing Muslims had taken shelter on March 1 and set it afire,throwing in plastic pouches filled with petrol and kerosene. The bodies of only two persons could be recovered Sikandar Malek and his two-year-old daughter Guddi. The rest are till date missing and assumed dead. The deceased included nine children and nine women.

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