Source: The New York Times
Wire Service: Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/world/asia/08india.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
An Indian court sentenced 14 Hindus to life on Saturday for killing 116 Muslims and burying their bodies in a cauliflower patch during one of India’s bloodiest religious riots almost 20 years ago.
A lower court in Bhagalpur District in the eastern state of Bihar said that the 14 could not get the death penalty because the case did not fall under the “rarest of rare cases.”
The 14 men, including a police officer, were part of a mob that hacked to death 116 Muslim men, women and children with swords and daggers on Oct. 27, 1989. More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in Bhagalpur during the rioting.
During a hearing in June, the court found all of the accused guilty.
Seven of the men are at least 60 years old now, the oldest is 82, according to court documents. Six other men accused of taking part in the killings have since died. Four others are missing.
The men are expected to appeal the verdict.