The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will hear on
February 13 the appeals filed by the Gujarat government and several other
convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case.
A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Aravind Kumar
made it clear that no adjournment will be given in the matter on the next date
of hearing.
On February 27, 2002, 59 people were killed when the
S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Gujarat's Godhra, triggering
riots in the state.
Several appeals have been filed in the apex court
challenging the October 2017 verdict of the Gujarat High Court which had upheld
the conviction of several convicts and commuted the death penalties of 11
people to life term.
The Gujarat government had in February 2023 told the
apex court that it will be seeking death penalty for the 11 convicts whose
sentences in the case were commuted to life imprisonment by the high court.
When the matter came for hearing on Thursday, a
lawyer, appearing for a convict, submitted that no evidence has been put on
record.
"We don't know. We will hear the matter and we
had clarified this earlier. We will not adjourn this case. This case has been
adjourned at least five times. (For the) last one year, I have been adjourning
this matter," Justice Maheshwari said.
The lawyer told the court that some of the convicts
have filed remission pleas that are pending.
Refusing to adjourn the matter, the bench said,
"We have instructions from the Chief Justice's office that the cases of
criminal appeal and remission need not to be heard together." Senior
Advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for one of the convicts, submitted that the
appeal filed by Gujarat against commutation of death penalty to life has to be
heard first.
"Twenty-two years have passed... My clients
have not been awarded death. This bench will have to first confirm the guilt.
Once that is confirmed, then comes the sentencing part. When we go through
that, that will possibly take time. There will be repercussion if you were to
send to three judges," Hegde said.
The court then deferred the matter for hearing to
February 13 after the lawyers appearing for the convicts sought time.
During the hearing before the apex court earlier,
the state's counsel said the 11 convicts were sentenced to death by the trial
court and 20 others were awarded life term in the case.
The high court had upheld the 31 convictions in the
case and commuted the death penalties of the 11 convicts to life term, the
counsel had said.
While the state has appealed against the commutation
of death penalty to life term for the 11 convicts, several convicts have
challenged the high court's verdict upholding their convictions in the case.