Supreme Court grants bail to eight convicts in Godhra train carnage case

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to eight accused, who were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in Godhra train burning carnage. The apex court bench said that it was inclined to grant bail to the eight having due regard to the period of imprisonment undergone by them and taking into consideration that their appeals are not likely to be taken up for disposal at an early date.

Those who have been granted bail are Abdul Sattar Ibrahim Gaddi Asla (undergone 18 years 2 months), Yunus Abdul Hakk Samol (17 years 10 months), Mohammad Hanif Abdulla Moulvi Badam (17 years), Abdul Rauf Abdul Majid Isa @ Dhesli (17 years 10 months 7 days), Ibrahim Abdulrazak Abdul Sattar Samol @ Bhano (17 years 11 months 4 days), Ayub Abdul Gani Ismail Pataliya (17 years 2 ½ months), Soheb Yusuf Ahmed Kalandar (18 years 8 months 28 days) and Suleman Ahmad Hussain @ Tiger Peer Musalman (16 years 2 months).

“We accordingly order and direct that the above applicants be released on bail, subject to such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the Sessions Court,” the bench said. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha, however, refused to grant bail to four other accused, who were awarded death sentences for their roles in the Godhra train carnage which was later reduced to life imprisonment by the Gujarat High Court.

Those denied relief from the top court are – Anwar Mohammad Mehda, Saukat Abdulla Moulvi Ismail Badam, Mehboob Yakub Mitha @ Popa and Siddik Mohammad Mora (Moraiya) The Godhra train burning incident took place on February 27, 2002, and 58 people were killed in a fire inside the S-6 coach of Sabarmati express carrying kar sevaks from Ayodhya. Following this incident, communal riots had erupted in various parts of the country.

The trial court had convicted 31 persons in the case earlier in March 2011 and out of this, 11 accused were sentenced to death and rest 20 accused were awarded life imprisonment. The trial court had acquitted 63 other accused persons in the case. Later, the Gujarat High Court commuted the death sentence of 11 to life imprisonment and upheld the life imprisonment to 20 accused.

The accused in the case had challenged the High Court’s verdict in the Supreme Court in 2018.