Post-Godhra riots case: 19 years after conviction, Gujarat HC acquits 3 for want of reliable evidence

A Bench of Justice Gita Gopi allowed the appeals filed by Sachin Patel, Ashok Patel and Ashok Gupta, challenging their conviction by a fast-track court in Anand and the order of sentence dated May 29, 2006.

“The learned trial court judge had erred in the appreciation of the evidence. Conviction is not based on reliable and corroborative evidence. The identification of the accused has not been proved during the trial,” the high court stated in the order passed on Monday.

Of the nine individuals who faced trial, four had been convicted and handed five-year rigorous imprisonment under sections of the Indian Penal Code for rioting, arson, unlawful assembly, etc. One appellant died in 2009.

The prosecution had stated that the three convicts were part of a crowd that gathered at a locality in Anand a day after two coaches of the Sabarmati Express train were set on fire at Godhra station on February 27, 2002.

The crowd allegedly damaged shops and set some of them on fire, violating the order issued by the district magistrate under section 135 of the Bombay Police Act.

The high court noted that whether the appellants were members of the unlawful assembly and involved in arson had not been proved.

None of their acts in prosecution of the common object — of setting things on fire and damaging the private and public property — has been proved during the trial, the high court stated.

On February 27, 2002, 59 people were killed when the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra, triggering riots in Gujarat.