Verdict in Gulberg Society carnage case on June 2

An Ahmedabad special trial court is expected to pronounce its verdict on June 2 in the Gulberg Society attack case of 2002 Gujarat riots in which 69 people, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, were killed.

The Gulberg Society was attacked a day after Coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express train was torched in Godhra on February 27, 2002 leaving 59 people dead.

A mob attacked residents of the Gulberg Society situated in Chamanpura area of Ahmedabad and burnt down most of the houses. Thirty nine people were burnt alive and others went missing, who were later presumed to be dead.

The Supreme Court had stayed the trial in major Gujarat cases related to post Godhra riots of 2002 on petitions filed by the National Human Rights Commission and the Citizens for Justice and Peace, who sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and transfer of the cases outside Gujarat.

A bench of the apex court had on March 26, 2008, directed the Gujarat government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by R.K. Raghavan, a former head of CBI in the case. It reopened nine crucial riots cases, including that of Gulberg Society. The SIT had named 66 persons as accused in the case. Nine of them have been in jail for the last 14 years.

--IANS

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