2002 Godhra riots case: SC grants bail to 8 accused in train burning case

Godhra riots case hearing in SC: The Supreme Court has granted bail to eight accused in the train burning case, that claimed the lives of 58 people, news agency ANI reported. 

The Supreme Court was hearing the bail plea of 31 Godhra riot convicts on Friday. Some of these convicts sought bail until their appeals against conviction are disposed. A trial court sentenced 11 convicts to death penalty while 20 of them were sentenced to life imprisonment. The Gujarat High Court had upheld their conviction but reduced the death sentence in the case.

The apex court was hearing the matter a day after an Ahmedabad court acquitted all 68 accused including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Maya Kodnani, former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) Jaydeep Patel in the Naroda Gam case, wherein 11 people were killed.

The 67-year-old Kodnani was charged with criminal conspiracy and attempted murder in the Naroda Gam incident. 11 people were killed in communal violence in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Gam area on February 28, 2002. The incident took place during a ‘bandh’ to protest against the Godhra train burning, wherein 58 passengers returning from Ayodhya lost their lives.

Out of the 86 accused in the case, 18 died during the course of the trial. The accused were facing charges under the Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), and 153 (provocation for riots).

Around 182 prosecution witnesses were examined. Union Home Minister Amit Shah appeared as a defence witness for Maya Kodnani in September 2017. The BJP MLA requested the court to summon Shah to prove that she was present in the Gujarat Assembly and later at the Sola Civil Hospital at the time of the incident.

Also read: 2002 Gujarat riots: Court acquits all 68 accused in Naroda Gam massacre case