New Delhi (India), April 21, 2023: In a significant development, the Supreme Court has granted bail to eight convicts in the 2002 Godhra carnage while refusing any relief to the four convicts who are on death row.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha, granted bail to the eight convicts on the conditions imposed by the Sessions Court.
Earlier this year, on February 20, the Court sought details of the convicts, including their age and time served in prison, to aid it in deciding the bail applications moved by them.
During the hearing, the Gujarat government, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, expressed its strong disagreement with the Gujarat High Court’s 2017 decision to reduce the death sentence awarded to 11 convicts to life imprisonment.
Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde highlighted that some of the convicts were now in their 60s and urged the court to take a call on whether the death sentence was maintainable or not against the 11 convicts who were earlier given this punishment by the trial court.
Senior Advocate KTS Tulsi informed the court that one of the accused, Bilal Ismail, did not know Gujarati when he put his thumb impression on a document without knowing the contents of the statement.
It may be recalled that in December last year, the top court granted bail to one of the 31 convicts in the Godhra train burning case of February 2002, which sparked communal riots in Gujarat, resulting in the loss of nearly 2,000 lives. The present development is being keenly watched by legal and political circles alike.
