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             11 Get Life Sentences for Involvement in Gujarat Riots

   by Anjana Pasricha

   An Indian court has handed down life terms to 11 Hindus convicted of
   murder in one of the massacres during deadly riots that swept India's
   Gujarat state 16 years ago when Prime Minister Narendra Modi headed the
   state administration.

   Twelve others, found guilty of lesser crimes, were sentenced by the
   special court to seven years in jail, while one man was given a 10-year
   prison term.
   Friday's sentencing involved one of the worst episodes of violence in
   which a Hindu mob stormed a housing complex, Gulbarg Society, in
   Ahmedabad city where many Muslims had taken shelter. Sixty-nine people,
   including women and children, died. Some succumbed to burns, others
   were hacked with machetes.

   Handing down the sentences, the judge called it the darkest day in the
   history of civil society.

   The riots raged sporadically for nearly two months, killing more than
   1,000 Muslims in the western Gujarat state. The violence was triggered
   by the death of 60 Hindu pilgrims in a train blaze that was initially
   blamed on Muslims, but later found to be the result of an accident.

   One of those who died in Gulbarg Society was a member of parliament
   from the opposition Congress party, Ehsan Jafri. His widow, Zakia
   Jafri, says he repeatedly tried to call the police, but by the time
   they came, homes had been set on fire any many killed.

   Tougher sentences
   After the court handed down the sentences, a disappointed Zakia Jafri
   said the convicts got off too lightly. "I am not at all satisfied with
   this. This is not justice," she said.

   Prosecutors had sought death for the convicted, but defense lawyers
   argued they were not hardened criminals or terrorists and the mob
   violence did not involve the "rarest of rare cases" for which the death
   penalty is reserved.

   Teesta Setalvad, a human rights activist who has spearheaded a campaign
   to prosecute officials in Gujarat for their alleged involvement in the
   riots, said they will appeal to a higher court. "They were part of a
   willfully armed mob that was on the attack from 9 a.m. right up to to 5
   p.m. There is no reason for such leniency," she said.
   Pending cases

   Two more cases involving the riots are still pending in courts. One of
   them seeks to establish that the riots were the result of a high-level
   conspiracy involving Modi. In the case involving Friday's sentencing,
   however, the judge has rejected charges of conspiracy and called the
   housing society massacre an incident of mob violence.
   Critics and opposition parties have long accused Modi, who was chief
   minister of Gujarat during the riots, of not doing enough to stop the
   religious violence. But in 2013, a Supreme Court panel concluded there
   was not sufficient evidence to prosecute him.


   For nearly a decade, the United States and some Western countries
   banned his entry to their countries on charges of human rights
   violations in his state.

   While Modi successfully put behind all such allegations and swept the
   2014 national elections, critics say erasing the memory of the riots in
   his home state will not be easy.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/eleven-get-life-sentences-for-involve
   ment-in-gujarat-riots/3380433.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/eleven-get-life-sentences-for-involvement-in-gujarat-riots/3380433.html