The Gujarat High Court on Friday upheld the trial court’s decision of life imprisonment of 14 accused and acquitted four others in the Ode massacre case. In April this year, the bench of justices Akil Kureshi and BN Karia had completed the hearing on the appeals in the case and had reserved its order.
During the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, 23 people were burnt alive in the Ode town in Anand district.
Earlier in 2012, the special trial court had convicted the 23 accused guilty and 18 were sentenced to life imprisonment while five others were handed seven years in jail.
The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team had asked capital punishment for all the 47 accused who were found guilty of murder. The probe team had also moved to the higher court challenging the acquittals in the case and demanded an enhancement of the sentences of the five convicts who got seven years in jail.
Two days after the Sabarmati train carnage at Godhra railway station where 58 kar sevaks or religious volunteers were killed, around 23 Muslims were burnt alive in the Ode town of Anand district.
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