News
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Indian court convicts 32 over Gujarat riotsAHMEDABAD: An Indian court on Wednesday convicted a former state minister and 31 others of murder during one of the worst massacres in religious riots in Gujarat in 2002.
Maya Kodnani, who served as a minister in Gujarat's Hindu nationalist state government from 2007-2009, was found guilty over the killing of 97 Muslims in the Naroda Patiya suburb of the city of Ahmedabad.
Out of 61 people facing charges, 32 were found guilty of murder and 29 were acquitted, prosecution lawyer Shamshad Pathan said.
A leader of a local extremist Hindu group, Babu Bajrangi, was also among the convicted.
"More than 90 people lost their lives, mostly children and ladies, all of them were defenceless," public prosecutor Akhil Desai said, adding that he would push for the death penalty when sentences are handed down on Friday.
"If some of the accused are lucky enough to escape the death penalty, I will ask for life imprisonment, not for 14 years but for the rest of their lives," he told reporters. afp
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk