Verdict on Ode appeals likely today

AHMEDABAD: A bench of Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice B N Karia of the Gujarat high court will likely deliver its verdict on appeals filed in the 2002 Ode massacre case, in which 23 persons were killed in the town in Anand district.
A special investigation team (SIT) court convicted 23 persons in this case for killings 23 persons. The court sentenced 18 convicts to life imprisonment for criminal conspiracy and murder.Five others got jail terms of up to ten years for attempted murder and rioting. Twenty-three were acquitted.
The state government had sought the death penalty for the 18 persons sentenced to life imprisonment. The government also sought the enhancement of punishment of the five others.
This massacre took place on March 1, 2002 at Piriwali Bhagol in Ode town. After violent mobs attacked members of the minority community, 23 of them, mainly women and children, took shelter in a house which the mob set on fire, after bolting the doors from outside.
All 23 convicts challenged their conviction before the high court. In the second incident at Ode, three more people were killed in the Malav Bhagol area on the same day. Nine persons were given life terms for the crime, for whom the government wanted the death penalty. There was a third incidence in the town — an old man was killed — but that did not see a conviction. All the three cases reached the HC. The government, the SIT and the victims challenged the acquittal of 53 people in two cases – Piriwali Bhagol and Malav Bhagol.
The case staying in the news because six accused persons in the Malav Bhagol case fled abroad after jumping bail. It was only after the SIT court delivered its verdict that they were tracked down in various countries – the US, the UK and Australia. Five of them were brought to India and put on trial. Four have been acquitted with one, Samit Patel, being acquitted just last month.