India convicts 31 in 2002 Gujarat riots case

An Indian court convicted 31 people of killing dozens of Muslims during religious riots in the state of Gujarat in 2002, the BBC reported.

They were found guilty of murder, attempted murder, arson, rioting and criminal conspiracy related to the burning of 33 people to death in a building in Ahmedabad.

Another 42 mostly Hindu defendants were acquitted on Wednesday because of a lack of evidence, the news channel said.

Those convicted will be sentenced later this week. They face the death penalty.

More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed when riots erupted across Gujarat after 60 Hindu pilgrims died in a train fire — which local politicians and rabble-rousers blamed on Muslims. In February a special court in Gujarat found 31 people guilty of setting fire to the passenger train in the town of Godhra. The court acquitted 63 other people of conspiracy and murder.

On Feb. 28, 2002, 33 Muslims had sought shelter in a small house in the village of Sardarpura, but rioters discovered them and set the building on fire The bodies of 28 people were found at the scene, with five others dying later from their injuries.

The case is one of nine trials being held in India in connection with the violence following the train fire and is one of the first in which convictions have been secured, the BBC said.

The Gujarat government is led by Hindu nationalist Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has been accused by rights groups – and a senior police officer in April – of tacitly supporting the rioters.