An Indian court jailed 14 Hindus for 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 state said since the case did not fall under the "rarest of rare cases" the death penalty could not be awarded. The 14 men, including a policeman, were part of a mob that hacked to death 116 Muslim men, women and children with swords and daggers on October 27, 1989.
More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in Bhagalpur in the rioting. During a hearing in June the court found all the accused guilty. Seven of the 14 accused are above 60 years of age with the oldest 82, according to court documents. Six other men accused of taking part in the killings have since died, four others are on the run.