2002 Godhra train burning: Supreme Court denies bail to three convicts, says incident serious

The Supreme Court on Monday denied bail to three convicts in the Godhra train burning and violence case of 2002..A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra said it could not grant bail to Saukat Yusuf Ismail, Bilal Abdullah Ismail and Siddik given their involvement in stone pelting, looting gold ornaments and damaging the Sabarmati Express with iron rods."Having regard to the specific role to the appellants, we are not inclined to enlarge them on bail. Needless to say it will not impact the merits of the appeal," the Court stated in its order..The Godhra train burning incident happened on February 27, 2002 when a mob of around 2,000 had set four coaches of the Sabarmati Express on fire It had led to the death of 59 Hindu Kar sevaks who were returning to Gujarat from Ayodhya after a religious ceremony.The incident sparked widespread communal riots in Gujarat leading to the death of over 2,000 persons.The three convicts before the top court are serving life sentence after having been convicted by the trial court which was also upheld by the Gujarat High Court.Siddik was convicted for instigating the mob and pelting stones at the coaches of the train, and thereafter damaging a train coach using iron rods.Bilal too was found guilty of instigating the mob and using deadly weapons while Saukat is serving jail for pelting stones, causing damage to the railway coaches and looting ornaments of passengers..Senior Advocate Sanjay Hedge, appearing for the convicts, said that there was no recovery of gold ornaments from the accused as alleged. He also highlighted that one of the accused in question was languishing in prison for over 20 years.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government, pointed out that State's plea to enhance the sentence of the accused is pending. .Even though Hegde persisted that the charges were not clearly established, CJI Chandrachud observed that the incident was a "serious one" and not a "one off" case.The Court, therefore, proceeded to reject the plea..The Supreme Court had in April granted bail to eight convicts in the 2002 case, while refusing any relief to four others who are on death row..[Read live courtroom exchange]

2002 Godhra train burning: Supreme Court denies bail to three convicts, says incident serious

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