Liberal democrats, human rights activists and even right-wing radicals are pondering the verdict in the post-Godhra cases and wondering whether or not it will be as severe as the Godhra verdict.
The Godhra verdict on Tuesday saw 11 convicts being sentenced to death and 20 getting life. In the next few months, verdicts in eight crucial post-Godhra riots cases are due.
The Supreme Court-appointed SIT headed by ex-CBI chief R.K. Raghavan had probed eight other cases, including Naroda village and Naroda Patiya massacre cases, Gulberg case, Sardarpura massacre case, Ode village massacre case and Dipdi Darwaja massacre case. While the Godhra verdict of death sentences to 11 and life to 20 involved the death of 59 karsevaks travelling mainly from Ayodhya to Ahmedabad in the Sabarmati Express, the eight post-Godhra riot cases involve deaths of hundreds of people, mostly Muslims. These include brutal killings of 69 people in Gulberg Society, 95 people in Naroda Patiya, 27 people in Sardarpura, 11 people in Naroda village and more than two dozen in Ode village and Dipdi Darwaja cases.
The post-Godhra cases probed by the SIT and monitored by the top court involve killings of more than 330 people by hundreds of rioters. Among those accused are former minister and BJP MLA Maya Kodnani, VHP leaders Jaidip Patel, Babu Bajrangi and hundreds of VHP, Bajrang Dal and BJP members.
Like the Godhra case, the accused in all these cases are also facing trials for murder, criminal conspiracy, rioting, arson and attempt to murder and looting. “Trials in these cases are at various stages so judgments are expected after a few months,” a police official who was a member of the SIT said.
“Going by logic, will an even more serious punishment await those who were responsible for bloodbath that followed the burning of the train?” human rights activist Fr Cedric Prakash wondered.
“I hope the judiciary will maintain the same standards in the post-Godhra riots case as applied in the train burning case. The scale of justice has so far been lopsided in Gujarat but we sincerely hope that this will change with this case,” Gujarat PUCL president J.S. Bandukwala, himself a victim of the riots in Baroda, said.
He said that a person like Babu Bajrangi should also be sentenced to death for his role in the post-Godhra riots.
“Naroda Patiya and Gulberg Society massacre cases are FIR cases for higher punishment as they were also premeditated,” human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha said.