NEW DELHI, Apr 21: Eight persons serving life imprisonment in the Godhra train carnage case, which had plunged Gujarat into a communal conflagration in February, 2002, were on Friday granted bail by the Supreme Court.
A bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha, while granting them the relief took note of the time they have already served and the unlikelihood of their appeals being taken up for disposal anytime soon. “We direct that the convicts be released on bail subject to such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the sessions court,” the bench said. The eight convicts were granted bail on the ground that they have spent more than 17 years in jail.
The eight people granted bail were those who were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment and their sentences were upheld by the Gujarat High Court order.
The bail application of four other convicts, however, was turned down in view of their role including carrying weapons and burning materials. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed their applications highlighting their role in the incident. Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the convicts whose bail petitions were rejected, requested the bench to adjourn the hearing on their applications saying there is a festival tomorrow.
Mehta, who represented the Gujarat government, had earlier said it was not merely a case of stone-pelting as the convicts had bolted a bogie of the Sabarmati Express and set it ablaze, leading to the death of 59 passengers. Several appeals against the conviction are pending before the Supreme Court.
On February 27, 2002, 59 Vishwa Hindu Parishad “karsevaks” were killed when the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express from Faizabad to Ahmedabad carrying a large number of “karsevaks” from Ayodhya was set afire at Gujarat’s Godhra, triggering riots that soon engulfed many parts of the state.
In its October 2017 judgment, the high court had commuted the death sentence awarded to 11 convicts in the Godhra train burning case to life imprisonment. It had upheld the life sentence awarded to 20 others.
The Godhra incident had triggered large-scale riots in Gujarat. A local court in 2011 convicted 31 accused and acquitted 63 people. Eleven accused were sentenced to death and 20 were awarded life imprisonment by the trial court. Later Gujarat High Court upheld the trial court decision to convict the 31 accused but commuted the death sentence of the 11 to life imprisonment.
Convicts moved the Supreme Court challenging the High Court order. The appeal is pending in the Supreme Court since 2018.
(Manas Dasgupta)