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The Supreme Court docket on Monday dismissed the bail pleas of three convicts serving life time period within the 2002 Godhra prepare burning case, which plunged Gujarat into one of many worst communal riots, terming it a “very severe incident”.
IMAGE: A policeman walks in direction of the doorway of a burnt coach of a prepare in Godhra, Gujarat February 27, 2002. {Photograph}: Stringer/Reuters
“The incident can also be a really severe incident. It’s not a query of an remoted individual being murdered,” a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud noticed, including that particular roles have been attributed to those convicts.
The apex court docket mentioned it is going to checklist the appeals difficult the Gujarat excessive court docket verdict within the case earlier than an acceptable bench.
The bench, additionally comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, refused to enlarge the convicts Saukat Yusuf Ismail Mohan, Bilal Abdullah Ismail Badam Ghanchi and Siddik, on bail “at this stage”.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, showing for the convicts, advised the bench that the three had been awarded life time period by the trial court docket and, whereas one among them is in custody for over 17 years and 6 months, one other is in jail for 20 years.
“Having regard to the particular position which is attributed to the appellants, at this stage, we’re not inclined to enlarge the appellants on bail,” the bench mentioned.
Hegde argued two of them have been accused of minor offences of stone-pelting and robbing individuals of ornaments in the course of the violence. He mentioned these ornaments had been by no means recovered.
Solicitor Normal Tushar Mehta, showing for the Gujarat authorities, referred to the findings of the trial court docket towards the three convicts and mentioned one among them was among the many “fundamental conspirators” who instigated a mob which was carrying lethal weapons.
“All these three have lively roles,” the bench noticed.
The excessive court docket had upheld the life time period awarded to the three convicts by the trial court docket and their appeals are pending earlier than the apex court docket.
On April 21, the highest court docket had granted bail to eight individuals sentenced to life imprisonment within the case.
The convicts who had been granted bail in April had been Abdul Sattar Ibrahim Gaddi Asla, Yunus Abdul Hakk Samol, Mohammad Hanif Abdulla Moulvi Badam, Abdul Rauf Abdul Majid Isa, Ibrahim Abdulrazak Abdul Sattar Samol, Ayub Abdul Gani Ismail Pataliya, Soheb Yusuf Ahmed Kalandar and Suleman Ahmad Hussain.
The highest court docket, nevertheless, had refused to grant bail to 4 convicts — Anwar Mohammad Mehda, Saukat Abdulla Moulvi Ismail Badam, Mehboob Yakub Mitha and Siddik Mohammad Mora — after Solicitor Normal Tushar Mehta opposed their functions highlighting their position within the incident.
In the course of the earlier arguments earlier than the apex court docket, Mehta had mentioned it was not merely a case of stone-pelting because the convicts had bolted a bogie of the Sabarmati Categorical and set it ablaze, resulting in the loss of life of 59 passengers.
On February 27, 2002, 59 individuals had been killed when the S-6 coach of the prepare was set ablaze in Gujarat’s Godhra, triggering large communal riots that quickly engulfed many elements of the state.
In its October 2017 judgment, the excessive court docket had commuted the loss of life sentence awarded to 11 convicts within the Godhra prepare burning case to life imprisonment. It had upheld the life sentence awarded to twenty others.
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