By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Ahmedabad/London: Exactly 13 years to the day when the post-Godhra communal violence began in Gujarat in 2002, all six accused in a case involving three British nationals of Indian origin and their Indian driver were acquitted for want of evidence.
A special court in Himmatnagar on Friday acquitted the six accused in the incident involving two family members, Sakil Dawood, Saeed Dawood and their childhood friend, Mohammed Aswat along with their Indian driver, Yusuf Palagar, at Prantij town in Gujarat’s Sabarkantha district.
Courtesy: NDTV
This case was one of the nine post-Godhra riot related cases investigated by the Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT).
As per a Press Trust of India (PTI) report, carried by DNA on its website, pronouncing the order in the case, Himmatnagar Principal District Judge IC Shah stated that the prosecution failed to prove the charges levelled against all the accused under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder).
Observing that the SIT had made several emotional arguments, the court – in its 182-page order – noted that the witnesses had failed to identify the accused persons. “In such circumstances, when there is lack of sufficient evidence against the accused, they are acquitted,” the court said.
The incident had occurred on February 28, 2002, a day after Godhra train burning incident. Members of Dawood family were attacked by a mob on NH8. One of them managed to save himself while the rest were killed.
Those acquitted are: Mithanbhai Patel, Chandu alias Prahlad Patel, Ramesh Patel, Manoj Patel, Rajesh Patel and Kalubhai Patel, all residents of Prantij.
“Unfortunately and sadly, the verdict does not come as a surprise. It is an established fact that the Gujarat police failed to investigate the murders properly and thoroughly. This negligence was especially noticeable in two key aspects of the investigation: the police’s unwillingness to identify, interview and support crucial witnesses and their apparent inability to collect forensic evidence,” Suresh Grover, spokesperson for the ‘Dawood Family Justice Campaign’ said in a statement from London.
“The tragedy – something that the family has to live with on daily basis – is that the mob responsible for killing their loved ones is still loose on the streets. The family will not rest until the Indian government fulfills its legal duty and responsibility of bringing the real culprits to justice,” he added.
The SC had started monitoring the progress of nine cases of the post-Godhra riots – of Prantij, Gulberg Society, Naroda Patiya, Naroda Gaam, Ode village (two cases), Dipda Darwaja, Sardarpura and Godhra – after the National Human Rights Commission and various NGOs termed the probe by Gujarat police as shoddy and unreliable.
Incidentally, the UK government had then taken a policy decision not have an active engagement with Gujarat government after these three British nationals of Indian origin were killed. UK decided to resume engagement with Gujarat in October 2012.