A Special Court conducting trial in the sensational case of 2002 riots, Gulbarg Society massacre case in which former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was among those killed, is >likely to pronounce its verdict on Thursday .
Special judge PB Desai, who has been conducting a protracted trial in the case has asked lawyers of all parties to remain present in the court on June 2 when the court may deliver its judgment for massacre of 69 persons in a Muslim dominated housing society in northern Ahmedabad.
The court completed the trial in September 2015 but was restrained by the Apex Court from pronouncing its verdict. Subsequently, the Apex Court directed the trial court to pass the verdict by May 31st.
The case was among the nine most crucial cases which were reinvestigated by the Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation team (SIT) headed by former CBI director RK Raghavan.
The prosecution agency SIT has, during the course of trial that had began after the SIT was constituted, has submitted that the massacre was a pre-planned conspiracy as rioters had targeted the minority dominated housing colony in the area.
However, the lawyers appearing for the accused have refuted the conspiracy charge and stressed that the mob had gathered spontaneously and not as “pre-planned” and the mob started violence only after Mr Jafri fired from his weapon to disperse the mob.
A total 338 witnesses have been examined by the court during the trial that had begun in 2009, almost seven years after the gruesome massacre was carried out.
There are 66 accused facing the trial of murdering 69 persons. At present, nine accused have been languishing in jail for more than a decade while remaining are out on bail.
