‘Mere suspicion without any evidence’: Court in Gujarat riots case order

The court observed that there were contradictions in the accounts of witnesses, and they did not support the prosecution’s argument.

Testimonies by 190 witnesses and 334 physical evidence including documentary proof could not help the prosecution prove its case, thereby resulting in acquittal of 27 persons charged of gang rape and murder during the riots that broke out in Kalol on March 1, 2002, according to the Panchmahals session court order.

Additional sessions judge L.G. Chudasma of the Halol court observed that the prosecution case is based on “mere suspicion without any evidence on record.” (Representative Photo)

The court in Panchmahals’ Halol district in its in its 153-page order, delivered on March 31, said the prosecution could not prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. The court accused all the surviving accused, 27 of them, in a case where more than 13 persons were killed in the riots when mobs belonging to Hindu and Muslim communities clashed.

While a total of 39 were accused in the case, 12 died during the trial period.

Additional sessions judge L.G. Chudasma of the Halol court observed that the prosecution case is based on “mere suspicion without any evidence on record.”

The court observed that there were contradictions in the accounts of witnesses, and they did not support the prosecution’s argument.

The witnesses and victims either “turned hostile” or had “not supported the prosecution’s case” or were “unable to recall facts or identify the accused”.

The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code Sections for rioting, unlawful assembly, rioting with armed weapons, murder and causing disappearance of evidence, among other sections. The 39 accused in the case, included four Muslims and R J Patil , the then sub-inspector of Kalol police station. The trial lasted for at least two decades and “as many as 13 out of a total 39 accused in the case died during the pendency of the trial,” the court said in the order. Patil was among the 13 deceased.

The Kalol riots are part of the Gujarat riots of 2002 that followed an attack on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims in Godhra on February 27 2002 that left 58 dead. This was followed by communal riots for three days that left over 1000 people dead according to official figures.

The court, which was hearing as many as eight separate charge sheets filed by the Kalol police for violence related incidents that occurred on March 1, 2002. On that day, a mob of more than 2,000 people clashed with sharp weapons and inflammable objects in Kalol city in Gandhinagar district.

But witnesses and victims failed to identify perpetrators in many of the cases, or turned hostile, resulting in the acquittal.