The Supreme Court in the case Abdul Rahman Dhantiya v. State of Gujarat observed and has considered the bail application filed the convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case.
The bench comprising of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala was hearing the present matter.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta appearing for the State of Gujarat submitted before the court that the state would be pressing for the cases which are to be considered as “rarest of rare” wherein the court considered the severity of the crime. It has also been stated by him that it being the case of convicts wherein it could not be considered for premature release as stated under the State of the Gujarat’s policy as the TADA provisions which had been invoked against them.
The Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, further, started to specify the roles played by the convicts in the matter.
Tushar Mehta submitted before the court that this being a case where 59 people were burnt alive and it being consistent that the bogey was locked from outside. Thus, the 59 people who died which includes ladies and children, wherein seeing the first convict who has challenged the sentence. He was being identified in Test Identification Parade and was pelting stones with motive of not letting passengers come out. It also cleared second- his role. In the case of third convict that the distinction which is being that a deadly weapon was found on him. The fourth one- he who had also played an active role in hatching the conspiracy. Further, he also of the purchased petrol, the stored petrol, the carried petrol and the petrol is used for the purpose of burning.
The bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud recalled that the bail ha already being granted to one of the convicts in the matter on a medical ground. Thus, the court on 13.05.2022 granted one of the convicts, Abdul Raheman Dhantiya @ Kankatto @Jamburo, wherein the court granted interim bail for six months on the ground that his wife was being suffering from terminal cancer and that the daughters of him were also being challenged mentally. Thus, the court on 11.11.2022 extended his bail till 31.03.2023.
The bench on December 15 also granted bail to a convict named Farook, who is being sentenced to life in the Godhra carnage case, wherein the court considered the fact that he has undergone 17 years sentence and that his role being of stone-pelting at the train.
Therefore, it has been observed by the court that it resulted in the killing of 58 persons in a fire inside the S-6 coach of Sabarmati express which was carrying kar sevaks from Ayodhya and the Godhra carnage triggered communal riots in Gujarat.
In the present case, the trial court in March 2011 convicted 31 persons, of whom 11 were sentenced to death and the remaining 20 awarded life in prison. 63 other accused were being acquitted. The Gujarat High Court in 2017 commuted the death sentence of 11 to life-term and it has also been upheld by the court that the life sentence awarded to the other 20. Since 2018, the appeals are pending which were filed by the convicts in the Supreme Court.
