Court acquits 109 people in post-Godhra riot case

A local court today acquitted 109 persons, accused of killing two people in Gujarat's Mahasana district, during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

A local court today acquitted 109 persons, accused of killing two people in Gujarat's Mahasana district, during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

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Additional Sessions Judge K B Meghanani acquitted all the accused on benefit of doubt.

The court said the prosecution was not able to clearly establish the role of the accused.

On February 28, 2002, a violent mob of over 1,500 people had burnt down many homes and business establishment of minority community members at Umta village.

During the rioting, a retired teacher Mohammad Sheikh and another person Abdul Mansuri were lynched by the crowd. However, their mortal remains were not recovered by the investigating agencies.

Charge sheet in the case was filed against 120 people, of which 11 died during the course of trial.

74 witnesses were examined, and except for the relatives of those killed and the police, most of the other witnesses turned hostile.

The case was investigated by local police and relatives of the victims were not satisfied with the investigations.