In two cases related to the post Godhra riots in Gujarat, 30 persons accused of looting and arson were acquitted by a trial court in Banaskantha district on Monday.
The court freed the accused on the ground of ‘lack of evidence’.
According to reports, 20 shops and three dozen houses were burnt down in Thara village of Banaskantha on February 28, 2002 during a Gujarat bandh call given by the VHP and other outfits in two separate incidents.
Following the incidents, two cases were registered against unknown persons but the police named 33 accused after the Gujarat High Court ordered a reinvestigation into the cases.
During the trial that lasted almost a decade, three accused died while the remaining were out on bail and were acquitted by sessions judge NM Parmar, who held that ‘there was not enough evidence against the accused’.
After the Godhra train torching incident in which 59 Hindu activists were charred to death near Godhra railway station, large-scale violence had broken out in the State in which more than 1,000 persons were massacred.
