The Supreme Court has considered the bail applications of the convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case today.
The Apex Court has asked for the age and time served by convicts in prison for so that the deciding on a batch of bail applications moved by the convicts in the case.
The matter was listed before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala.
The State of Gujarat, was represented by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta who submitted that the State would be pressing for the cases to be considered as “rarest of rare” considering the severity of the crime.
The SGI also said that premature release cannot be considered under the State of Gujarat’s policy as TADA provisions had been invoked against them.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, apprised the court son specified roles that were played by the convicts in the matter. He told the Court that 59 people were were burnt alive as the bogey was locked from outside.
Talking further he added that 59 people who died included ladies and children. Talking about each convict individually he said the first convict who has challenged the sentence,was identified in Test Identification Parade for pelting stones with motive of not letting passengers come out.
The role of second convict needs no explanation as his role was also clear. For the third convict,he was carrying a deadly weapon with him. The fourth one- was one of the main conspirator who hatched the conspiracy as he purchased petrol, stored petrol, carried petrol and used the petrol for the purpose of burning…”
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, has completely disagreed with the High Court’s 2017 decision to reduce the death sentence awarded to 11 convicts to life imprisonment.
Another Senior Advocate KTS Tulsi itold the court that one of the accused, Bilal Ismail, did not know Gujarati when he had put his thumb impression on a document, without knowing the contents of the statement.
The matter has been adjourned by the Court for another day while ordering the preparation of an information chart.
The Godhra train burning had led to the communal riots in Gujarat in which around 2,000 people were killed.