New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the bail application of three convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case killing 58 persons, saying the incident is serious. A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had earlier granted bail to the eight convicts serving death sentence on the ground that they have already spent over 17 years in jail.
Gujarat had witnssed the large-scale riots when a coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at the Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002. A local court in 2011 convicted 31 accused and acquitted 63 people.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for Gujarat Government said the charges against the three were not merely stone pelting but prevented victims from escaping the burning coach.
He said: "After th S-6 coach was set afire by miscreants, the convicts rained stones on the coach to ensure that neither the passengers could exit from the coach to save their lives nor anyone from outside could go to rescue them. They also poured kerosene, petrol on the burning coach."
