Will seek death penalty for 11 Godhra train burning convicts. Gujarat tells SC

The Gujarat government on Monday told the Supreme Court that it will press for death penalty to 11 convicts whose sentences in the 2002 Godhra train burning case were commuted to life imprisonment by the states high courtA bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala also fixed the bail pleas of several accused in the case for hearing after three weeks It asked counsel for both sides to file a consolidated chart giving details such as actual sentences awarded to them and the period spent in jail till nowWe will be seriously pressing for award of death penalty to the convicts whose death penalties were commuted into life imprisonment by the Gujarat High Court This is the rarest of rare cases where 59 people including women and children were burnt alive Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Gujarat government told the benchAlso Read 20 years of Gujarat riots A lookback in picturesIt is consistent everywhere that the bogey was locked from outside Fiftynine died including ladies and children he addedGiving details the law officer said 11 convicts were sentenced to death by the trial court and 20 others granted life term in the caseThe high court upheld total 31 convictions in the case and commuted the death penalties of the 11 convicts to life term Mehta saidOn February 27 2002 59 people were killed when the S6 coach of the train was burnt at Gujarats Godhra triggering riots in the stateThe state government has come in appeal against the commutation of death penalty into life term for 11 convicts Mehta said Several accused he added have filed pleas against the high court upholding their convictions in the caseThe top court has granted bail to two convicts in the case so far Seven other bail pleas are pending adjudication in the matterThe bench noted that a large number of bail applications have been filed before it in the case and said It has been agreed that the AORs advocateon records on behalf of applicants along with advocate Swati Ghildiyal standing counsel for Gujarat shall prepare a comprehensive chart with all relevant details List after three weeksOn January 30 the Supreme Court sought the Gujarat governments response on the bail pleas of some convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the caseThe court issued notice to the state government on the bail pleas of Abdul Raheman Dhantia alias Kankatto Abdul Sattar Ibrahim Gaddi Asla and othersThe state government on the other hand said it was not merely a stone pelting case as the convicts had bolted a bogey of the Sabarmati Express leading to the death of several passengers on the trainSome are saying their role was just stone pelting But when you lock a bogey from outside light it on fire and then pelt stones it is not just stone pelting the solicitor general had saidOn December 15 last year the top court granted bail to Faruk who was serving a life sentence in the case and noted that he had been in jail for 17 yearsFaruk along with several others was convicted for pelting stones at a coach of the Sabarmati ExpressThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever