A special Special Investigation Team (SIT) court on Friday awarded life imprisonment till death to 11 convicts, seven-year imprisonment each to 12 convicts, while 10-year sentence to the remaining one convict in the Gulberg Society massacre in which 69 people, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, were killed.
Earlier on June 2, the court had held 11 persons guilty of murder and other offences, while 13 others, including VHP leader Atul Vaidya, were charged with lesser offences. It had acquitted 36 others in the case.
Meanwhile, activist Teesta Setalvad welcomed the judgement but added that it was disappointing to see the lesser sentence.
Kailash Dhobi, among those convicted of major offences and a prime accused arrested in 2002 who jumped temporary bail in February this year, surrendered before the court on June 13 after the judge concluded the hearing on the quantum of sentence. He was sent to judicial custody in the Sabarmati Prison.
During the argument, public prosecutor representing the Supreme Court-appointed SIT, RC Kodekar had asked the court for nothing less than death sentence or jail term till death for all 24 convicts.
The incident had taken place a day after the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was burnt near Godhra train station in which 58 'kar sevaks' returning from Ayodhya were killed.
During the course of the trial, as many as 338 witnesses were cross-examined, with four different judges having presided over the case.
