A 20-year-old case in which 26 people were accused of gang rape and murder of more than a dozen members of a minority community in separate incidents in Kalol during communal riots in 2002 has been dismissed by a court in Gujarat on Friday (31) due to lack of evidence.
Out of the total 39 accused, 13 passed away during the case's pendency and their trial was dropped. The Additional Sessions Judge Leelabhai Chudasama at Halol in Panchmahal district acquitted 26 individuals of the charges of murder, gang rape, and rioting due to insufficient evidence.
The accused were part of a group that caused destruction during the communal riots that began on March 1, 2002, following a bandh call given after the Sabarmati train burning incident in Godhra on February 27.
An FIR was filed against the accused at Kalol police station on March 2, 2002. The prosecution presented 190 witnesses and 334 documentary pieces of evidence to support its argument, but the court found inconsistencies in the witnesses' accounts, which did not support the prosecution's argument.
On March 1, 2002, in Kalol city of Gandhinagar district, a group of over 2,000 people from two different communities engaged in a clash using sharp weapons and inflammable objects.
They destroyed shops and set them on fire. One man who had been injured in police firing and was being taken to the hospital was burned alive, along with a tempo.
In addition, the mob attacked and killed another man who was leaving a mosque and then burnt his body inside the mosque.
As per the FIR, in a separate incident, 38 individuals who were attempting to flee from Delol village to Kalol were assaulted, resulting in the burning alive of 11 of them. Additionally, a woman was reportedly gang-raped while she and others were trying to escape.
(With inputs from PTI)
Damian Talbot