An additional district court in Gandhinagar has acquitted 26 accused of lack of evidence, in the 2002 post-Godhara riots case. The Kalol court of Gandhinagar district pronounced this on Tuesday.
The court said owing to a compromise between the accused and the victim, enough evidence was not produced before the court to establish any violence on 28th February 2002. “The prosecution did not adduce enough evidence to prove the suspects were guilty, court said.
Also the witnesses also told the court that they had already struck a compromise with the suspects for peace. Those who have been acquitted by the court include present chairman of the Kalol Nagrik Sahkari Bank, Govind Patel. All the accused were already on bail since long.
The 28 persons were accused of arson, rioting and damaging property of minority community at Paliyad village in Kalol taluka of Gandhinagar district on February 28, a day after the train burning incident at Godhra railway station.
About 58 persons lost their lives when the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was torched at Godhra Railway Station on February 27, 2002. The incident had triggered large scale riots in Gujarat. At least 1,000 people, mostly of minority community, died in violence between Hindus and Muslims.
Courtesy: NewsBharati
