The court found the 11 Hindus guilty of killing 11 Muslims, including five children and four women, and throwing them into a well. (AFP)

AHMEDABAD, India, December 16, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Eleven Hindu people were sentenced to life in prison for killing 11 Muslims, including children and women, in the 2002 massacre of Gujarat.

The accused were found guilty of hacking and burning to death 11 Muslims in Ajanwa village in Panchmahal district, before dumping their bodies inside two wells in March 2002, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Thursday, December 15.

A court in Godhra said the 11 Hindus, armed with sharp weapons, killed 11 Muslims, including five children and four women, and throw them into a well, Reuters quoted the Press Trust of India (PTI).

Two elderly people were also burnt alive, it added.

Three others were handed 10-year prison terms in the same case, while 18 were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Lawyer Siraj Malik said that the judgment, delivered Wednesday, "would instill confidence amongst the Muslims" living in the riot-scarred Gujarat.

Wednesday's sentence was passed by a special fast-track court in Godhra. Some 80 witnesses were questioned during the hearings.

The group of 11 Hindus was one of the largest ever to be convicted by a court for the riots in which more than 2,000 people -- mostly Muslims -- were killed.

The carnage took place in early 2002 after 59 Hindu pilgrims and activists died on a train in a fire some blamed on a Muslim mob.

An official investigation has recently exonerated Muslims, saying the fire was an “accident”.

The Indian Supreme Court slammed Minister of the state of Gujarat Narendra Modi and his government, run then by the country's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, for turning a blind eye to the carnage.

Several senior Gujarat officials have told human rights groups that they received clear orders from Modi not to intervene and put an end to the carnage.

In 2003, Human Rights Watch further slammed the Indian government for its role in the massacre.