India court acquits 69 Hindus of murder of 11 Muslims during 2002 riots

FILE PHOTO: A police van transports some of those convicted in connection with a riot in Gujarat in 2002, outside a court after the ruling in Ahmedabad, India June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Amit Dave

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian court on Thursday acquitted 69 Hindus, including a former minister from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of the murder of 11 Muslims during communal riots in the western state of Gujarat in 2002.

The killings occurred in Ahmedabad on Feb. 28, 2002, a day after a suspected Muslim mob set fire to a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, setting off one of independent India's worst outbreaks of religious bloodshed.