“They claim the
massacre was pre-planned to kill members of the minority community”
Witnesses
of Sardarpura massacre case have demanded sentencing of convicts in the case
under charges of conspiracy. Talking to media persons on Thursday, the
witnesses alleged that it was a pre-planned conspiracy to kill people of the
minority community in Sardarpura village in Mehsana district.
Gulam Ali, one of the witnesses, claimed that on the
eve of February 27, 2002, while working near Jain temple, he had heard two
accused, Maganlal and Becharbhai, passing a remark that they would kill
Muslims.
Another
witness, Bashirabibi Shaikh, claimed that when she had gone to the shop of one
Dahyabhai, he allegedly told her that she would be killed. Other witnesses also
claimed that the streets lights of Sheikh Mohalla, where the massacre happened,
were repaired and switched on a day before the incident.
Teesta Setalvad of Citizens for Justice and Peace
(CJP), an NGO fighting for communal riots, said, "We have moved a petition
challenging the verdict of the Sardarpura riots in which the lower court has
not upheld the theory of conspiracy."
She further said, "There are many witnesses who
came on record and gave statements and testimony in the court that established
the fact that the killing at Sheikh Mohalla was pre-planned. The SIT will
establish the theory of conspiracy in the appeal filed before the HC."
The petition before the HC cited statements of many
witnesses. Sabirmiya Akhumiya Pathan, one of the witnesses, stated that Haresh
Bhatt, a leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, had come to the village and held a
meeting at Mahadev Temple (the place from where the crowd came on the night of
the event). "A meeting of Patel youth was held where Bhatt gave an
instigating lecture," Pathan said.
In November last year, the designated court had
awarded life imprisonment to 31 accused while acquitting 42.