Muslims sentenced to death for arson attack on pilgrims
12 April 2012
A court in India sentenced 11 Muslims to death today after finding them guilty of starting a train fire that killed 60 Hindu pilgrims nine years ago.
Another 20 were sentenced to life in prison by judge P R Patel in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, for the attack on the Sabarmati Express.
The attackers stopped the train, carrying Hindus returning from the northern town of Ayodhya, said to be the birthplace of the Hindu god Rama, and set fire to one of the carriages.
About 1,000 people were killed when vengeful Hindus rampaged through Muslim areas and towns in Gujarat from February to April 2002.
The religious violence was among India's worst since its independence from Britain in 1947.
