2002 gangrape and murder case | None of 190 witnesses supported prosecution: Court acquits 27 accused
None of the 190 witness testimonies could help the prosecution prove its case of gangrape and murder in Kalol during the 2002-post Godhra riots, the Sessions Court in Halol in Panchmahal has noted acquitting 27 surviving accused of the 39 booked.
On March 1, 2002,over 13 persons were killed when mobs belonging to the “Hindu and Muslim communities” came face-to-face, in separate incidents in Kalol.
Out of the 39 accused, which also included four from the minority community and then Police Sub-inspector of Kalol Police station, RJ Patil, 12, including Patil, died during the course of the trial that lasted 20 years, four months and 13 days.
In its 153-page order delivered Friday, the third Additional Sessions Judge LG Chudasma of the Halol Court, observed, “The prosecution case is based on the mere suspicion without any evidences on record…”
The court, which was hearing eight separate chargesheets filed by the Kalol police station for incidents that occurred on March 1, 2002, held that the 190 witnesses had either “turned hostile”, or “not supported the prosecution case”, or were “unable to recall facts or identify accused”, while acquitting the the accused, who had been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections for rioting, unlawful assembly, rioting with armed weapons, murder and causing disappearance of evidence, among other sections.
Among the most significant cases of the prosecution was the massacre at Ambika Society, where a Muslim group of 38, moving from Delol village to Kalol were attacked.
The prosecution had contended that a total of 11 people were killed and set on fire while 17 others, including an eight year old, ran to escape.
One woman had alleged that she was gangraped and a toe of her foot cut off by her perpetrators.
However, while deposing in court, the woman “failed to identify the accused”, thus leading the court to observe that “the gangrape cannot be proven”.
Another case was of the murder of a man named Imran Ghodawala, who was allegedly killed with a sword and then dragged by the mob into the masjid, which was set on fire.
The witnesses deposing in the case of Ghodawala’s murder could not corroborate facts, the court observed, thus holding them as “witnesses, whose testimonies does not help the prosecution”.
The prosecution case stated that mobs, which went on a rampage, destroyed properties and vehicles in Punji Faliya, Jetpur Seem, Porwad, Kalal Zampa, Kalol GIDC, as well as a set on fire brickwork and standing crops in a field, causing total damage of Rs 45.47 lakh of property.
Similarly, another mob also destroyed property worth Rs 2.50 lakh, the prosecution case had contended.
However, while stating that the testimonies of the witnesses were not supporting the prosecution case, the court observed, “Those whose properties had been damaged have also not named any accused or identified any accused.”
According to the police case, on March 1, 2022 — in the aftermath of the Sabarmati train burning in Godhra on February 27, 2002 — a mob of about 5,000-6,000 Hindus and a mob of about 2000 of the Muslim community gathered in an unlawful assembly and came face to face between 2 pm to 8 pm near the Rabbani Masjid near Kalol Nagar Panchayat, armed with lethal weapons like swords, sticks, choppers, bamboo, damaging shops, handcarts, kiosks.
The mobs resorted to stone pelting and also vandalised the masjid, setting it on fire and hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community.
The police first ordered the mobs to disperse but the mobs paid no heed, and instead damaged property belonging to some of the prosecution witnesses. The police opened fire in which, Ibrahim Yusuf Ghanchi of the Muslim mob and a resident of Kalol was injured and rushed to the referral hospital, where he breathed his last.
