The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to eight
people sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2002 Godhra train burning case
which plunged Gujarat into a communal conflagration.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice
P S Narasimha, while granting them the relief took note of the time they have
already served and the unlikelihood of their appeals being taken up for
disposal anytime soon.
"We direct that the convicts be released on
bail subject to such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the sessions
court," the bench said.
The top court, however, refused to grant bail to
four convicts after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed their applications
highlighting their role in the incident.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the
convicts whose bail petitions were rejected, requested the bench to adjourn the
hearing on their applications saying there is a festival tomorrow.
Mehta, who represented the Gujarat government, had
earlier said it was not merely a case of stone-pelting as the convicts had
bolted a bogie of the Sabarmati Express and set if ablaze, leading to the death
of 59 passengers.
Several appeals against the conviction are pending
before the Supreme Court.
On February 27, 2002, 59 people were killed when the
S-6 coach of the train was burnt at Gujarat's Godhra, triggering riots that
soon engulfed many parts of the state.
In its October 2017 judgment, the high court had
commuted the death sentence awarded to 11 convicts in the Godhra train burning
case to life imprisonment. It had upheld the life sentence awarded to 20
others.