A COURT in India yesterday sentenced 18 men to life imprisonment over the killing of 23 Muslims during the 2002 riots in Gujarat that left more than 2,000 dead.
Five other men were handed seven-year jail terms for crimes committed when the Hindu rioters entered the village of Ode, bolted the doors of a house where Muslim families had taken refuge and then set it on fire.
Of the 23 who died in what became known as the “Ode massacre”, nine were women and nine children.
“The court found 18 men guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy, and five men stand guilty for attempt to murder,” Judge Poonam Singh said.
The Ode massacre was one of several cases probed by a Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team.
