Hindus found guilty over deadly 2002 Indian riots

An Indian court on Wednesday found 31 Hindus guilty of killing 33 Muslims in a single house during savage religious riots in the state of Gujarat in 2002.

In some of India's worst inter-faith violence since independence in 1947, about 2,000 people died in a wave of anti-Muslim unrest triggered by a train fire in which Hindu pilgrims were burnt alive.

Muslims were blamed for the train fire, and Hindu mobs hungry for revenge rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods in towns and villages across Gujarat state during three days of bloodshed.

"Out of the 73 accused, 31 are guilty and 42 are acquitted of all charges," judge S.C. Srivastava told the special court near Sardarpura village, where the 33 Muslims sought shelter in a small house on the night of February 28, 2002.

The victims had crowded into the house to escape the rioters, who set the building alight. Bodies of 28 people were found at the scene, with five others dying later of their injuries.

Wednesday's verdicts on charges of murder and arson followed earlier convictions of other Hindu rioters over the violence.

The government in the western state of Gujarat, which is still headed by hawkish Hindu nationalist chief minister Narendra Modi, was accused by rights groups of tacitly supporting the rioters.

State authorities were also accused of dragging their heels in prosecuting Hindus over the riots.

Responsibility for the train fire has been the subject of fierce dispute between Hindus and Muslims, but in March this year a court handed 11 death sentences and 20 life terms to Muslims convicted over the blaze.

During the 2002 slaughter in Gujarat, witnesses said baying Hindu mobs surrounded and raped Muslim women, then poured kerosene down their throats and on their children and threw lit matches at them.

The Hindu pilgrims on the train were returning from the town of Ayodhya, another flashpoint for inter-religion unrest after a mosque was razed in 1992 by Hindu zealots, leading to separate riots that killed thousands of people, mostly Muslims.

Narendra Modi, who is seen by many in the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a future candidate for prime minister, denies all accusations about his handling of the riots.