2002 Sardarpura riots: Convicts withdraw bail plea from HC

AHMEDABAD: Thirty-one persons convicted in the 2002 Sardarpura riot case of Mehsana district today withdrew their regular bail plea from the Gujarat High Court.

A two-judge bench of justices Jayant Patel and R D Kothari, while allowing the convicts to withdraw their bail plea, disposed of the case.

However, no reason was given by the lawyer for withdrawal of the regular bail applications.

A special court in Mehsana had awarded life imprisonment to all the convicts in November 2011 for killing 33 people of minority community in Sardarpura village of the district in North Gujarat.

Out of the total 73 accused in the case, the court had acquitted 42 people, of whom 11 were freed due to lack of evidence and 31 were given the benefit of doubt. The remaining 31 were convicted in the case.

The Sardarpura riot was one of the ghastly crimes unleashed in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning incident in 2002.

A strong mob had surrounded a lane called 'Sheikh Vaas' on the intervening night of February 28 and March 1, 2002, where minority population of the village used to live.

Fearing the worst, people of the minority community took shelter in a house owned by one Ibrahim Sheikh. However, the mob torched the house after pouring petrol, in which, 33 people, including 22 women, were charred to death.