New Delhi: The Supreme Court has granted bail to four convicts in the Naroda Patiya massacre case in Gujarat in which 97 people were killed by a mob during the 2002 riots in the state.
A bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Ajay Rastogi on Tuesday granted bail to the four convicts – Umeshbhai Surabhai Bharwad, Rajkumar, Padmendrasinh Jaswantsinh Rajput and Harshad alias Mungda Jila Govind Chhara Parmar.
“The conviction order is debatable,” NDTV quoted the apex court as saying.
The Gujarat high court had on April 20 last year upheld the conviction of 12 out of the 29 accused who were pronounced guilty on various charges by the trial court and had acquitted 17 others, including former BJP minister Maya Kodnani.
“The court cannot set aside the agony and anguish of the victims… Offences are not against individuals but society at large and has consequences of polarising society,” the high court had said then. “Imposing too lenient a sentence would amount to travesty of justice… Imposition of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment would be adequate punishment.”
The rioting had taken place on February 28, 2002, in the Naroda Patiya area of Ahmedabad where a mob had killed 97 Muslims. According to a report on the Gujarat riots, a 30-year-old pregnant woman’s belly was cut open, the foetus was pulled out from inside, and hacked, after which the woman was killed.
The massacre had taken place a day after the torching of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, which had triggered state-wide riots.
(With PTI inputs)