The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will hear on January 15 the appeals filed by the Gujarat Government and several other convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case. A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Rajesh Bindal made it clear that no adjournment will be given in the matter on the next date of hearing.
On February 27, 2002, 59 people were killed when the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was burnt at Gujarat’s Godhra, triggering riots in the State. Several appeals have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the October 2017 verdict of the Gujarat High Court which had upheld conviction of several convicts and commuted the death penalties of 11 to life term.
Gujarat Government’s counsel Swati Ghildiyal requested the bench to post the matter for hearing on some other day as she was to argue before another Supreme Court bench in a death penalty-related matter. “We have to first understand what are the cases of individuals? What is the prosecution’s case? Then we have to ascertain the roles,” the bench observed, adding that hearing in the matter will take at least three days. Now we will not adjourn it on the next date,” the bench said.
