Of the total 72 accused in the Gulberg Society case, including four juveniles tried separately, six died while the trial was on, 38 were acquitted, and 24 sentenced in June 2016 by a special court, including 11 who were given life terms. While three of those convicted completed their sentence while their appeals were pending, all the remaining 21 are out on bail, including the 11 lifers.
Four of the accused remain absconding. One of those acquitted was Ashish Ramjag Pandey, who was arrested in January 2018, 16 years after the incident.
While Jafri’s remains were never found after a mob, mostly comprising neighbours, attacked the complex, at least 30 people still remain missing and are presumed dead, including eight children. Most of the residents had taken shelter at Jafri’s two-storey home thinking it would be safe as he was a former MP of the Congress.
Those acquitted included K G Erda, the Inspector in-charge of the Meghaninagar Police Station at the time, with Gulberg Society falling under his jurisdiction. The government prosecutor hardly forwarded any arguments against Erda, and it was the lawyer for the victims who prepared a case of alleged criminal negligence and attempt to derail the investigation against him, among other charges.
While acquitting Erda, the special court for speedy trial, headed by Special Justice Pranav Bhadramukh Desai, observed, “… it is very difficult to establish beyond reasonable doubt the culpability, involvement and guilt of a single Police Officer when the entire Police Force could be said to have been highly ineffective on that fateful day on 28/02/2002, where all throughout the State of Gujarat, wholesale carnage was committed which resulted in a huge loss of human lives and huge loss and destruction of property of the members of the minority community… and therefore, in my opinion, a single Police Officer cannot be made responsible for such incidents and be held guilty.”
While the state prosecutor insisted on the “harshest punishment” and life imprisonment “till death”, the court decided only on rigorous life imprisonment for 11. The court took into account that “not a single complaint has emerged either from the victims or from the State” against the accused with regard to attempting to influence or threatening the witnesses, and that “there is neither any complaint about any misbehaviour or criminal activity on the part of such accused within the jail premises”. It also took into account that the accused have “made special efforts to integrate themselves into the mainstream society and no further untoward incident involving the accused has emerged during the lengthy duration of the present proceedings”.
The judge held: “I am of the opinion that while the present carnage is one of the darkest days of civil society in Gujarat, and cannot be in any manner excused or condoned, I cannot but come to the conclusion that the accused deserve a chance to reform and rehabilitate.”
The court also noted that Jafri had opened fire at the mob to ward them off, resulting in some deaths, adding that this “infuriated the mob who saw persons belonging to the majority community falling to the bullets being fired upon from the private weapon by Shri Ahsan Jafri”.
The first chargesheet against 23 of the accused was filed in June 2002, followed by supplementary chargesheets from February 2003 until August 2009, with more arrests, leading to multiple cases before the trial sessions court. In 2009, all cases arising from the Gulberg incident were ordered to be consolidated.
The Supreme Court stayed trial in the case along with several other cases, once in November 2003 and then in March 2008, after the SIT was constituted to carry on the probe. In 2010, prosecutors R K Shah and assistant Nayana Bhatt resigned before the SIT, reportedly citing dissatisfaction with the court proceedings, particularly the treatment of the victims, adding that they “are unable to do justice to the prosecution”.
The Gulberg Society case remains the only one among the nine investigated by the SIT in which a juvenile was convicted by a Juvenile Justice Board. Four in all were tried, and three acquitted. The conviction of one, now 35, happened on March 30 this year, and he was directed to render community service for three months at the Civil Hospital in
Ahmedabad
.
The only other case related to 2002 where juveniles are accused is Godhra’s Sabarmati Express train burning, with four facing trial.
While the convicted in the Gulberg Society case moved the High Court, victims Saira Sandhi and Rupa Mody also went to court. They challenged the acquittal of the accused, as well as the appeal for relief by the 24 convicted.
In 2018, the BJP-led Gujarat government denied permission to the SIT to appeal in the High Court seeking the more stringent death sentence for the 11 who had been given life, and to appeal against the acquittals.
Rupa and Dara Mody were among those who had taken shelter at the Jafri home that day, along with their son Azar, then 13. They were the only Parsi family in the complex. Azar went missing that day and was never found.
In 2008, another couple who were residents of Gulberg, Jebunissa and Mohammad Salim, found their son Muzaffar after six years of search. Just 2 at the time, he had been found by a Hindu fish vendor and raised as Vivek Patni. A long legal battle ensued between his foster and biological parents, with the High Court eventually refusing Vivek’s custody to his biological parents. In 2012, he started visiting his biological parents on Sundays.
In March 2019, Sandhi and Mody also moved an application seeking compensation on par with that claimed by the 59 kar sevaks, who died in the Godhra train burning on February 27, 2002. The application was disposed of, with the High Court granting liberty to the two to argue the same at the time of final hearing of the appeals.
Asked about the pending cases in the Gujarat High Court since 2016, public prosecutor R C Kodekar said he would get back later as he would “have to refer to the records”. Attempts to reach him later were unsuccessful.