Godhra carnage sentencing today

The quantum of punishment for the 31 people convicted of the Sabarmati Express carnage at Godhra in Gujarat on February 27, 2002, will be declared by an Ahmedabad special court on Tuesday.

Arguing before the court on Friday, the prosecution had sought death for all. It said their crime fell in the rarest of rare category as nearly 59 people, including children and women, were burnt alive.

The defence, on the other hand, said the court should consider socio-economic backgrounds of the convicts and take a lenient view.

After hearing the arguments, the court adjourned the case for pronouncement of sentences to Tuesday.

It had pronounced the verdict on February 22, convicting 31 and acquitting 63, including Maulvi Hussain Umarji, the main conspirator as per the charge sheet filed by the special investigation team. It upheld that the attack on S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express was a conspiracy, not a result of an altercation between kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya and Muslim vendors.