The Supreme Court has granted bail to Farook who was one of the thirty-one convicts in the communal riots at Godhra that shook Gujarat in February 2002.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha while granting bail to the convict said that he was accused of pelting stones and has been behind bars for 17 long years.
The Bench said that we are granting him bail. It has been 17 long years. Appeal against conviction was pending before top court.
The Court has also agreed to accept the request by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State of Gujarat, to list all appeals for final hearing including appeals filed by the State for enhancement of sentence.
Back on February 27, 2002, four coaches of the Sabarmati Express which was carrying pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, was set on fire by a Muslim mob.
This had triggered widespread riots in Gujarat resulting in the death of more than 2,000 people.
More than 100 people were arrested for the train burning incident.The trial court in February 2011 convicted 31 and acquitted 63.
20 were given life imprisonment and the rest 11 were given death sentence.
The Gujarat High Court in October 2017 upheld the conviction of all but commuted the death sentence of the 11 to life imprisonment.