Supreme Court Issues Notice On Bail Applications Of Godhra Train Burning Case Convicts

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on the bail application of convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case. The matter was listed before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala. The bench had earlier asked the State of Gujarat to specify the individual roles of the convicts, based on which their applications for bail were to be considered.

At the outset, the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted that the present matters were fresh matters. He requested for the bench to issue notice in the same so that the State could examine them. He added–

"Some day your lordships may consider listing the main matters for hearing. Some of them are in for life sentence, some of them are for death sentences. Some of them say that my role is that of pelting stones. Stone pelting per se may not be a serious offence but then you lock the bogey from outside having 59 passengers, putting a fire, and then start pelting stones...that is serious."

Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde submitted that –

"The High Court has given everyone a life sentence. There is no capital sentence at the moment. The state has come up in appeal against the High Court bringing it down to life. There were capital sentences against which the High Court commuted the death into life."

CJI DY Chandrachud stated–

"We will issue notice and also examine it. We will list it after two weeks."

On December 15, the bench led by CJI Chandrachud had granted bail to a convict named Farook, sentenced to life in the Godhra carnage case, considering the fact that he has undergone 17 years sentence and that his role was of stone-pelting at the train.

On May 13, 2022, the Court had granted one of the convicts, Abdul Raheman Dhantiya @ Kankatto @Jamburo, interim bail for six months on the ground that his wife was suffering from terminal cancer and that his daughters were mentally challenged. On November 11, 2022, the Court extended his bail till March 31, 2023.

Case Title: Abdul Rahman Dhantiya v. State of Gujarat Crl. A. 517/2018 and connected cases.

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