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All of them were found guilty of serious charges, including murder, attempt to murder and arson.
The Gujarat High Court had granted them parole (leave granted to jail inmates) between 2004 and 2007, even as the Mehmedabad police had opposed this. Of the seven convicts, who had vanished as soon as they got out of the jail, one was caught after some time and sent back.
They were Ratilal Chauhan, Girish Sharma, Jeeva Parmar, Bhawan Parmar, Ajit Chauhan, Chatur Parmar and Huka Parmar (all residents of Ghodasar).
The conviction in the Ghodasar massacre case was considered very significant, as it was the first major one to be ordered by a Gujarat court in the riot killings, in the shadow of the Best Bakery case controversy.
Mehmedabad Sub-Inspector B R Chauhan told Newsline that his predecessors had recommended to the Vadodara Central Jail authorities not to grant these convicts parole, as all of them had notorious past.
The convicts then moved the high court and were granted parole, said M A Laliwala, the prosecution lawyer in the case. Soon after, seven of them disappeared.
Of these, Huka Parmar was nabbed by the Mehmedabad police last year.
“Huka was arrested from a shop at Ghodasar about eight months ago following a tip-off,” Chauhan said.
He added: “We are on the lookout for the other six. Their families living in the village claim they do not know their whereabouts. In some cases, like that of Girish Sharma, even the family members are now absconding.”
However, some people are not taking the police claim for granted.
Habib Khan, one of the survivors of Ghodasar massacre, said the police officials are lying. “These six convicts are seen around the village. They even visit their respective families. It is surprising that the police cannot catch them,” Khan said.
The case and trial
* 14 Muslims, including two women, were butchered to death and their dismembered bodies left in the fields of Ghodasar at Mehmedabad taluka of Kheda district on March 3, 2002. Many of them were killed while trying to flee the rioting mob.
* After investigations into the case (case no 57/2002, Mehmedabad police station), the Kheda police filed an FIR against 63. Four persons were declared absconders in the FIR and in the chargesheet filed before a Nadiad court.
* The conviction assumed significance, as it was the first 2002 riot case in which a Gujarat court spelled out life sentence. The trial had taken place in the wake of the Best Bakery case in a Vadodara fast track court, which courted controversy after witnesses turned hostile and all the accused were acquitted. In the Ghodasar case, none of the witnesses had turned hostile.
* Of the 15 people found guilty, 12 were sentenced to life, while the remaining three were awarded rigorous imprisonment for two years each
* A total of 48 people were acquitted on grounds of want of evidence. C K Rane, the Nadiad Sessions Court judge, had pronounced the verdict on Nov 24, 2003
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