Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High court on Wednesday admitted the appeal of the state government seeking enhancement of the sentence of 20 convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case from life imprisonment to death.
The appeal was admitted by the division bench of justices DH Waghela and JC Upadhyaya.
A special court in March had convicted 31 people and acquitted 63 others in the train burning case. The court had pronounced death sentence to 11 convicts and life term for 20 others in connection with the incident that left 59 people, mostly karsevaks, dead and triggered violence in Gujarat killing over 1,000 people, mostly from the minority community.
The court will hear the state government's application challenging the acquittal of 63 others on October 11. According to special public prosecutor J M Panchal, the state's appeal seeking enhancement of the sentence of 20 convicts, will now be heard along with the application for confirmation of death sentence awarded to 11 people.
The acquittal of the 63 people by the special court was also challenged in the high court by two of the victims. These appeals were filed by Nilkanth Bhatia, who along with his wife was injured in the incident, and Gayatri
Panchal, who had lost four of his family members, including
her parents and two sisters.
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