SC Grants Bail 14 Convicts of the Gujarat Riots
The Supreme Court has granted bail to 14 individuals who were guilty of burning 33 Muslims during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
On February 27, 2002 a train returning from Ayodhya was burnt in Godhra. There were 59 Hindu passengers in the train and everyone died. After this there were violent riots between Hindus and Muslims all over Gujarat. The riots lasted for 3 days and more than 1,000 people died. Most of them were Muslims. In a village called Sardarpura in Gujarat, Muslims were dragged out of their house and burnt alive. 23 Muslims were burnt alive. The Gujarat High Court convicted 19 people in the case and gave them life imprisonment.Of the 19, 14 challenged their conviction, arguing that they were pronounced guilty based on a single witness.
They argued that they had been in jail for more than six years and had never committed any crime while on parole. The Gujarat government opposed bail on the merits of the case but said their conduct in jail was "good". These 14 people then appealed to the Supreme Court to scrap their life imprisonment.
The CJI S A Bode granted bail to these 14 people. The CJI said that the 14 people can do spiritual and social work and told officials to help them find work to earn money. He divided them into 2 groups. 6 of them will be sent to Indore and 8 will go to Jabalpur. Officials in Indore and Jabalpur have been asked to ensure that the convicts do six hours of community service daily and file compliance reports.
