The special court of Ahmedabad deferred the judgment on the quantum of punishment to the 24 convicts in the Gulberg Society massacre case till tomorrow.
During the hearing, the defence lawyer said that convicts be given minimum punishment as the eight witnesses have not been able to recognize the convicts. The prosecution however sought capital punishment or life imprisonment for the convicts. The special court on 2nd June convicted 24 persons in the Gulberg Society case while it acquitted 36 persons.
Of 24 convicts, 11 persons were found guilty of murder while remaining 13 were convicted for other charges like arson, rioting and unlawful assembly.
The court was likely to announce the quantum of punishment on Monday but it adjourned the hearing till today as arguments on quantum of sentence brought no conclusion. The special public prosecutor of SIT, RC Kodekar, had told the special court that capital punishment for the 24 convicted was justified as the Gulbarg massacre was the ‘rarest of the rare’.