Supreme Court Lists Godhra Carnage Appeals For Final Hearing On February 13

The Supreme Court today (January 16) stated that it is not going to further adjourn the criminal appeals pending in the 2002 Godhra train burning matter. It has now posted the appeals for final hearing as item no. 1 on February 13.A bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Aravind Kumar expressed displeasure about the parties seeking adjournment in this matter. Justice Maheshwari said: "We have granted adjournment for 5-6 times. From last one year, I have been adjourning the matter." At the outset, the lawyers for the appellants/accused raised several points including that the applications of the convicted persons for remission are pending before the State and have to be determined first. One of the lawyers, Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde (in the first matter) submitted that in this case, the convicts have filed criminal appeals against conviction and the State of Gujarat has also appealed against the commutation of the death penalty to life sentence. He argued that, per the constitutional bench judgment in Mohd. Arif @ Ashfaq vs The Reg. Supreme Court Of India & Ors(2014), a three-judge bench must hear the matter related to death penalty which has been confirmed by the High Court. He referred to the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, Order VI Rule 3, which reads thus:"3. Every cause, appeal or other proceedings arising out of a case in which death sentence has been confirmed or awarded by the High Court shall be heard by a Bench consisting of not less than three Judges.4. If a Bench of less than three Judges, hearing a cause, appeal or matter, is of the opinion that the accused should be sentenced to death it shall refer the matter to the Chief Justice who shall thereupon constitute a Bench of not less than three Judges for hearing it."He argued that the appeals filed by the State of Gujarat seeking the death penalty will have to be first heard and if the Court confirms that death penalty has to be given, it will have to be referred to a three-judge bench. Arguendo, Hegde argued that the Court will have to see if the death penalty has to be granted after a passage of 22 years.However, both judges clarified that the facts and circumstances of each case is different and therefore, an individualised approach has to be adopted. As for the death penalty, the conviction has to be confirmed first and there is no bar for the two-judge bench to confirm the conviction, which is the first step in these cases. Once the conviction is confirmed, the second step would be the sentencing part. On the remission issue, the Court rejected the oral arguments made by the appellants and clarified that remission has to be determined by the State and is not connected to the issues before the Court. In fact, Justice Maheshwari also stated that the Court has instructions from the Chief Justice that the matter of remission and criminal appeals need not be heard together, if in case the remission issue also comes up before any bench. He said: "We have received instructions from hon'ble Chief Justice's office that it is not necessary to be connected and to hear those cases separately [remission and criminal appeals]."While clarifying all this, Justice Maheshwari remained visibly upset at the constant plea for adjournment and stated that the matter needs to be heard in his tenure and the parties will have to begin arguing in the next date accorded. As for the Court records which are in Gujarati, the Court has asked parties to translate them to English and digitise so that the records are accessible to all parties. The crime which took place on February 27, 2002, resulted in the killing of 58 persons in a fire inside the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express, which was carrying kar sevaks (Hindu volunteers) from Ayodhya. The Godhra carnage triggered communal riots in Gujarat.In March 2011, the Trial Court convicted 31 persons, of whom 11 were sentenced to death and the remaining 20 were awarded life in prison. 63 other accused were acquitted. In 2017, the Gujarat High Court commuted the death sentence of 11 to life term and upheld the life sentence awarded to the other 20.On May 13, 2022, the Supreme Court granted one of the convicts, Abdul Raheman Dhantiya @ Kankatto @Jamburo, interim bail for six months on the ground that his wife was suffering from terminal cancer and that his daughters were mentally challenged. On November 11, 2022, the Court extended his bail till March 31, 2023.On December 15, the Supreme Court granted bail to a convict named Farook, sentenced to life in the Godhra carnage case, considering he had undergone 17 years sentence and that his role was related to stone-pelting at the train. In April 2023, bail was granted to 8 life convicts by the Supreme Court.In August 2023, the Supreme Court bench of Justices denied bail to Saukat Yusuf Ismail Mohan @ Bibino, Siddik @ Matunga Abdullah Badam-Shaikh and Bilal Abdullah Ismail Badam Ghanchi considering the specific roles attributed to them.Case Details: Abdul Raheman Dhantiya @ Kankatto...

Supreme Court Lists Godhra Carnage Appeals For Final Hearing On February 13

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

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