07 June,2016 09:29 AM IST | | Agencies
Prosecution in the Gulbarg case has sought the strictest punishment for all convicts; court has deferred further hearing of the quantum of sentence on Thursday
Ahmedabad: The prosecution in the 2002 Gulbarg housing society massacre case yesterday sought death penalty or life imprisonment till death for all the 24 convicts, calling the attack "barbaric and inhuman" even as a special court deferred further hearing on sentencing to June 9.
Awaiting justice: Gulbarg housing society in Ahmedabad. FILE PIC
Pleading for maximum punishment, the prosecution said capital punishment could be considered by the court or the convicts be sent to jail and ordered to remain there till their last breath.
As arguments over the quantum of sentence that lasted for over two-and-a-half hours remained inconclusive, the special SIT court judge PB Desai adjourned further hearing in the case to Thursday.
The court had on Friday convicted 24 and acquitted 36 others, while dropping conspiracy charges in the killings of 69 persons including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri in Gulbarg housing society on February 29, 2002 in post-Godhra riots when Narendra Modi was Gujarat Chief Minister.
Public prosecutor representing the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), R C Kodekar in his arguments before the court said, "The manner of the crime was cruel, barbaric and inhuman. Victims' bodies were roasted alive, in the crime for which there was no provocation, much less in case of women and children who were defenseless."
