High Court admits appeals by 13 Gulbarg convicts

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat high court on Tuesday admitted appeals filed by thirteen persons against their conviction by a special SIT court in connection with the 2002 Gulbarg Society massacre case.
A bench of Justice A S Dave and Justice B N Karia has admitted these appeals, said advocate Kshitij Amin who appeared for the convicts.
These convicts are Dharmesh Shukla, Dilip Parmar, Bharat Rajput, Manish Jain, Krushna Kalal, Jayesh Parmar, Kailash Dhobi, Jayesh Jinger, Yogendra Shekhawat, Mukhesh Shankhla, Ambesh Jingar, Mangilal Jain and Lakhan Chudasama.Three other convicts have also filed appeals before the high court challenging the verdict of the special SIT court, which convicted 24 persons for killing 69 people at Gulbarg Society in Chamanpura area on February 28, 2002.
The court held 11 persons including Dhobi guilty of killing the residents of the society , while 13 others were convicted for lesser offences including arson, unlawful assembly etc. Mangilal Jain was convicted for attempt to murder and awarded 10 years' jail term. The special court, however, refused to believe that there was any criminal conspiracy behind the massacre.
After the verdict, the special investigation team (SIT) claimed that it would demand death sentences in this case by appealing before the high court. It has reportedly sought the state government's opinion about seeking maximum penalty . Dissatisfied with the trial court's verdict, the witnesses and survivors of the incident are also likely to file appeals in the near future.