A special trial court in Ahmedabad has decided to adjourn pronouncement of quantum of punishment to the 24 convicts of the Gulberg Society massacre case till June 17.
In the sensational case related to 2002 post Godhra train carnage incident special sessions judge PB Desai had asked for the jail records of all the 24 convicts on last hearing held on June 10. On Monday records were submitted to him. Hearing of the case has been completed and it is expected that the court will pronounce quantum of punishment on Friday.
On June 2 the court had held 24 of the total 66 accused guilty while acquitted the remaining 36. Six had died during the trial. The court had in its order said that hearing on the quantum of punishment would be done from June 6. Of the convicts, 11 are held guilty under various charges including that of murder while one is guilty of attempt to murder and remaining are guilty under lesser charges like rioting and unlawful assembly.
RC Kodekar, the SIT counsel argued in favour of capital punishment or life term for the 11 convicts with murder charges. However, the defence advocate Abhay Bhardwaj argued that as the court had already dropped conspiracy charges under section 120 B and the convicts have no criminal background, the punishment should be as per sections against them.
The Gulberg Society massacre is one of the nine cases of the 2002 Gujarat violence probed by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT. The incident had taken place a day after S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was burnt near Godhra train station on February 27, 2002 in which 59 people killed.