Eighteen of the 23 people convicted of killing 23 Muslims in Ode during the 2002 Gujarat riots were sentenced to life terms on Thursday. The other five were given seven years rigorous imprisonment. The court also fined the convicts for offences like arson,rioting and making religiously provocative statements. Additional Sessions Judge Poonam Singh had on April 9 convicted 18 people of murder and allied charges,four people of attempt to murder and allied charges,and one person of arson and rioting. All the convicts belong to the wealthy and politically powerful Leuva Patel community of landowners. Twenty-three Muslims were burnt alive by a mob that locked them in a three-storey building and set it ablaze in Ode in Anand district on March 1,2002. This was the first post-Godhra riots case in which the court upheld the conspiracy charge. The Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team had sought death for all 18 convicted of murder. Relatives of the convicts gathered on the court premises raised slogans against the sentence and Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the news came. Haay re Modi haay and Aa nyay nathi (this is not justice),shouted the crowd,comprising mostly women. The situation threatened to get out of hand at one point before the police scattered the protesters.
