Godhra train burning case: Gujarat high court upholds the conviction

AHMEDABAD: The

Gujarat high court

on Monday while upholding the conviction of 11, commuted their death sentence to life sentence.

As per the court order, the 11 accused, who were earlier awarded death sentence, will now serve life sentence. The court also upheld the life sentence to 20 other convicts.

Fifty-nine `karsevaks' were killed in the Godhra train burning incident of February 27, 2002, triggering the worst communal riots in the history of Gujarat.

A division bench of Justices Anant S Dave and G R Udhwani of the high court pronounced the judgement on appeals filed by the convicts as well as the prosecuting agency.

The special SIT court had on March 1, 2011 convicted 31 persons. The trial court sentenced 11 persons to death and 20 others to life imprisonment, while acquitting 63 others.

The high court today also ordered the state government and the railways to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of those killed in the train burning incident.