AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Monday sentenced three persons to 10 years imprisonment after holding them guilty of rioting, arson and other offences during the
Naroda Patia massacre, in which 97 persons were killed during the post-Godhra riots.
In 2012, the SIT court had acquitted the trio — Rajkumar Chaumal, P J
Rajput and Umesh Bharwad — among 29 persons given the benefit of doubt. However, a bench of Justice H N Devani and Justice A S Supehia on April 20 found them guilty and reversed their acquittal.
The HC confirmed the acquittal of the 26 others. In sentencing the three, the high court observed they were involved in the heinous crime, in which women and children were brutally killed. The court also observed Chaumal and Rajput were in a noble professions and their involvement in such a heinous crime was deplorable, and hence the convicts were required to be handed down harsh punishments.
While Chaumal is a practicing lawyer, Rajpur was a teacher. The bench awarded maximum punishment for the crime of arson along with rioting, unlawful assembly, promoting enmity between communities, defiling a place of worship, causing damage to property etc to the convicts.
On April 20, the division bench upheld the convictions of 13 persons, including former
Bajrang Dal leader
Babu Bajrangi, of the 32 persons convicted by the SIT court.