By TCN Special Correspondent,
Ahmedabad: The Godhra train carnage accused on Friday moved a petition in the Supreme Court urging it to lift ban on the announcement of the verdict in their case. The hearing in the case has been fixed for November 26. The trial was completed by a special court on September 29. However, the court has yet not pronounced its verdict owing to a stay ordered by the apex court on the verdict in the case.
The special court set up on the orders of the apex court had begun trial on July 1, 2009 and completed it on September 29, 2010. Out of a total of 134 accused booked in the case, 104 were charge sheeted. Out of them five have died (three in jail and another two while on bail), 14 are out on bail as there were no serious charges against them and 85 others, including five juveniles, are still in jail.
Prominent among those in jail are Maulana Hussain Umarjee, who had operated relief camps for Godhra Muslim riot victims. The petition seeking lifting of the stay on pronouncement of the verdict was moved through leading apex court advocate Kamini Jaiswal. The accused prayed the Supreme Court that it had been eight years since they are in jail. Since the trial has been completed, the special court be either allowed to pronounce the judgment or the apex court grant bail to the accused.
The Supreme Court had stayed the verdict on a petition filed by catholic human rights activist Fr. Cedric Prakash who had demanded shifting of the trial outside Gujarat, arguing that justice was not possible in Gujarat. Though the apex court did not shift the trial outside Gujarat, it ordered
that the special court would pronounce verdict only after permission from the apex court. The accused also mentioned in the petition how their trial was also delayed, resulting in their prolonged imprisonment.
The case was investigated by a special investigation team (SIT) set up on the orders of the Supreme Court. The SIT also investigated eight other anti-Muslim riot cases of 2002 in which a total of 1180 persons, mostly Muslims, were killed and properties worth thousands of crores or rupees belonging to Muslims were destroyed.
The Godhra train burning case was among the few cases in which the accused–all Muslims–were booked under draconian POTA(Prevention of Anti Terrorism Act). There is no provision for bail under POTA. However, the accused–all non-Muslims–in anti Muslim riot cases were booked under provisions of Indian Penal Code which allows accused to seek bail. However, POTA charges were dropped after the Gujarat High Court in February 2009 decreed that the train burning incident was not a pre-planned conspiracy and hence the accused could not be booked under POTA. The Muslim accused involved in the Godhra case were then subjected to trial under provisions of IPC. However, POTA from Muslim accused booked in a few other cases was not lifted.