SC seeks Gujarat government’s reply on Godhra convicts’ bail pleas

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Gujarat government to file a reply on the bail pleas of some convicts in the 2002 Godhra train coach-burning case. A bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked the Gujarat government to file a reply on the bail pleas. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Gujarat government, said that this is not a matter of stone pelting but that a bus with 59 passengers inside was locked, which led to the death of several passengers. The Solicitor General’s response came when senior, advocate of some convicts submitted the state government has filed appeals against the Gujarat High Court order which has commuted the sentence of some convicts from the death penalty to life imprisonment. Around 58 people lost their lives when some coaches of Sabarmati Express were torched at the Godhra Railway Station in Gujarat on February 27, 2002. The incident triggered large-scale riots in Gujarat. A local court in 2011 convicted 31 accused and acquitted 63 people. Eleven accused were sentenced death penalty while the rest were awarded life imprisonment.