Supreme Court gives bail to 8 convicts in Godhra case, refuses to four

New Delhi, April 21

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to eight convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2002 Godhra train carnage case in which 59 “kar sevaks” returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive, triggering the worst communal riots in Gujarat.

“We are inclined to grant bail to the following (eight) applicants having due regard to the period of imprisonment which has been undergone, particularly since the appeals are not likely to be taken up for disposal at an early date,” a Bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said.

The convicts granted bail on Friday were Abdul Sattar Ibrahim Gaddi Asla, Yunus Abdul Hakk Samol, Mohammad Hanif Abdulla Moulvi Badam, Abdul Rauf Abdul Majid Isa, alias Dhesli, Ibrahim Abdulrazak Abdul Sattar Samol, alias Bhano, Ayub Abdul Gani Ismail Pataliya, Soheb Yusuf Ahmed Kalandar and Suleman Ahmad Hussain, alias Tiger Peer Musalman. They have already undergone sentences ranging from 16 years and two months to 18 years and 10 months.

“We direct that the (eight) convicts be released on bail subject to such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the sessions court,” it said.

However, the Bench dismissed the bail pleas of four other convicts — Anwar Mohammad Mehda, Saukat Abdulla Moulvi Ismail Badam, Mehboob Yakub Mitha, alias Popa, and Siddik Mohammad Mora (Moraiya), saying “we are not inclined to grant bail to the…applicants…at this stage.”

The denial of bail to the four convicts came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta explained their role in the gory crime. “I only have some issue with four persons because of their roles,” Mehta told the Bench on behalf of the Gujarat Government and went on to narrate the specific role played by each one of them in the crime.

In March 2011, the trial court convicted 31 accused and awarded the death sentence to 11 of them and life imprisonment to the remaining 20 while 63 other accused were acquitted for want of evidence.

In October 2017, the Gujarat High Court commuted the death sentence of 11 of them to life term and upheld the life sentence awarded to the other 20. The convicts’ appeals are pending since 2018 in the Supreme Court.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, representing the convicts who were denied bail, said some of the convicts were now in their 60s. He urged the Bench to adjourn the hearing on their plea, saying there was a festival (Eid) tomorrow.

Mehta had earlier said it was not merely a case of stone throwing as the convicts had bolted a bogie of the Sabarmati Express and set it afire, leading to the death of 59 passengers.