Gujarat Seeks Death Penalty For 11 Godhra Train Burning Convicts

A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and J B Pardiwala also fixed the bail pleas of several accused in the case for hearing after three weeks.

The Gujarat government on Monday told the Supreme Court that it will press for the death penalty to 11 convicts whose sentences in the 2002 Godhra train burning case were commuted to life imprisonment by the state's high court.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala also fixed the bail pleas of several accused in the case for hearing after three weeks. It asked counsel for both sides to file a consolidated chart giving details such as actual sentences awarded to them and the period spent in jail till now.

"We will be seriously pressing for award of death penalty to the convicts whose death penalties were commuted into life imprisonment (by the Gujarat High Court). This is the rarest of rare cases where 59 people, including women and children, were burnt alive," Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government, told the bench.

"It is consistent everywhere that the bogey was locked from outside. Fifty-nine died, including ladies and children," he added.