Wednesday, September 5, 2012

5 get life term for riots over cricket

Two Youths Were Killed In Viramgam Nine Years Ago 

A fast track court in Viramgam awarded life imprisonment to five persons and acquitted 28 others in connection with murder of two youths in a rioting incident. The riots took place after there was a quarrel between the Hindu and the Muslim youths over a cricket match on November 2, 2003.
    The fast track judge, D R Patel acquitted 19 Muslims, who were also booked in the case following cross-complaints filed after the incident.
    As per the case details, the spat over playing cricket at the hospital compound near Chandifali in Viramgam took form of rioting in which two persons — Zakir Sipahi and Farid Shafibhai — died of bullet injuries. Twenty-six others also sustained injuries and were treated in hospitals.
    Police booked 33 Hindus and 19 Muslims after both the groups lodged complaints against each other. After trial was completed, the court found Purushottam Vasram and Chandu Vittal guilty of firing from a .12 bore gun and sentenced them to life imprisonment. They were also fined with Rs 7,500. Besides them, Kumar Vitthal, Mahesh Patel and Nagar Jagjivan were also found guilty of rioting and violence and awarded life term and Rs 5,000 as fine.
    The court acquitted 28 others for lack of evidence against them. Similarly, all 19 Muslims charged with rioting were also acquitted.
    Public prosecutor Navin Rathod said that initially police had charged 37 persons in the case lodged by the Muslims. But during the pendency of trial, four persons passed away. Moreover, there were two juvenile accused in the case, whose case was taken up by the juvenile court separately.