SC grants bail to 8 convicts in Godhara train coach-burning case

New Delhi. The Supreme Court has granted bail to 8 convicts in the 2002 Godhra Train Coach Burning Case. All of them have been convicted of setting fire to a train bogie in Godhra. All those who have been granted bail are serving life imprisonment. No bail or any relief has been given to the other convicts convicted in the same case. The Supreme Court has granted bail to some of the accused in the Godhra train carnage case pending their appeals. While the Supreme Court refused to give any kind of relief to some others.

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The Supreme Court considered the bail pleas of 12 convicts. Out of which eight have been sentenced to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court has granted bail to 8 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court accepted that the convicts have already spent 17-18 years in jail and the High Court will not give any verdict soon. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta opposed the grant of bail to these people convicted of violent crimes, but the Supreme Court approved the bail.

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A bench of Supreme Court Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala said that there was a need to make a distinction in order to efficiently deal with the batch of bail pleas of the convicts. The bench said that it is currently rejecting the bail pleas of those who were earlier awarded death sentence by the trial court and later their sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. Significantly, on February 27, 2002, 59 people had died in a fire in the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra, Gujarat. After which fierce riots broke out in the entire state.