11 get life imprisonment for Gulberg Society massacre

Ahmedabad : On Friday, a special court here gave life imprisonment to 11 of the 24 persons convicted in the Gulberg Society massacre of 69 people, including former Lok Sabha member of the Congress Ehsan Jafri, in 2002.

Twelve of the convicts got jail for seven years and one was sent to prison for 10 years.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) court earlier this month convicted 24 of the 66 accused for arson, plunder, vandalism and killings at Goldberg Society. Thirty-six were acquitted while six were dead before the judgement came in. The hearing on the quantum of punishment was earlier deferred twice.

The prosecution, representing the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had sought death sentence or jail term till death for all 24 convicts.

The Gulbery massacre took place a day after a coach of the Sabarmati Express train was set on fire near Godhra, in which 58 people were burnt alive.

Thousands of mobster attacked the Gulbarg Housing Society in Chamanpura area and hacked 69 of its residents to death.