A special court has handed down life sentences to 11 people for their part in a massacre of mostly Muslim citizens during a mob riot in India.

The court in Gujarat imprisoned almost half of the 24 people convicted for the killings for the rest of their lives, while 12 more received seven-year sentences and one man received a 10-year sentence.

Known as the Gulbarg Society killings, after the compound of bungalows where Muslims were living, the 2002 attack was called "the darkest day in the history of civil society" by the court.

Those convicted, who were mostly Hindu, were described as going on a "rampage" after a group of Muslims were believed to have started a fire on a train which killed 60 Hindu pilgrims.

The retaliatory attacks 14 years ago on Muslims in Ahmedabad, in India's westernmost state, were part of wider riots in which 1,000 people are believed to have been killed, with 69 murdered in the Gulbarg Society compound.

Some of the victims, who were reported to be middle- and upper-class business families, were hacked with machetes and then burned to death by the mob.

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They were given a traditional welcome at Bangana Water Tank and met representatives from SMILE, an organisation working in an economically deprived urban area to support local enterprise Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India Duchess Of Cambridge enjoys a game of cricket during a visit to meet children from Magic Bus, Childline and Doorstep, at Mumbai's iconic recreation ground, the Oval Maidan Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India Prince William and Catherine Duchess of Cambridge at India Gate in New Delhi Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India Prince William and his wife Catherine take part in an event at the Gandhi Smriti, a museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, in New Delhi Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge meet young entrepreneurs during a visit to Mumbai Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge prepare to lay a wreath at the Inida Gate in New Delhi Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge remove their shoes at Gandhi Smriti in New Dehli, India before paying their respects at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India ​The Duke and Duchess toured the museum housed in the Old Birla House and paid their respects at the place where Mahatma Gandhi's life ended on 30 January 1948 Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William pose for a picture at India Gate Memorial Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India Prince William and Catherine pay their respects at the place where Mahatma Gandhi's life ended on 30 January 1948, at Gandhi Smriti, the Old Birla House museum Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge poses with local school children as they tour Old Birla Hous in Gandhi Smriti in New Dehli Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India The Duke Duchess of Cambridge meet children from local charities Magic Bus, Childline and Doorstep, and join game of cricketwith boys from the Dilip Vengsarkar Academyat the Oval Maidan recreation ground Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are garlanded as they arrive at the Banganga Water Tank in Mumbai Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India Catherine, Duchess Of Cambridge plays football during a visit to meet children from Magic Bus, Childline and Doorstep Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge react after playing football during a visit to the Banganga Water Tank in Mumbai Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William play football games during a visit to the Banganga Water tank, where they met representatives of SMILE Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at a Bollywood Charity Gala hosted by the British High Commission and the British Asian Trust at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge arrives for a Bollywood Inspired Charity Gala at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge speak with Boman Kohinoor during a meeting in Mumbai Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge stand after laying a wreath on the martyrs memorial at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai

One of these was Ehsan Jafri, a former Indian National Congress party MP, who is understood to have repeatedly tried to call the police but to no avail, before the mob broke into the buildings and systematically killed residents and destroyed homes.

Accusations at the time also swirled around Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat in 2002 and now prime minister of India, for failing to prevent the riots because of Hindu nationalist sentiment on his part - accusations which have since been dismissed.

Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, is from the Hindu nationalist BJP party, which took power from the centrist Congress in 2014 (Getty)

Hindu and Muslim relations in the south Asian subcontinent have long been strained, particularly since the partition of India into Pakistan and Bangladesh in 1947 by the British.