India News | 3 Persons, Minors at Time of Godhra Train Fire, Sent to Remand Home for 3 Years on Conviction
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. More than 23 years after the Godhra train burning, a Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Gujarat's Panchmahal district on Tuesday handed a three-year remand home stay punishment to three persons, then minors, after finding them guilty in the case.
Godhra, Apr 8 (PTI) More than 23 years after the Godhra train burning, a Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Gujarat's Panchmahal district on Tuesday handed a three-year remand home stay punishment to three persons, then minors, after finding them guilty in the case.
JJB chairman K S Modi at Godhra sent the trio to remand homes for three years and slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 each on them.
They were juveniles at the time of the 2002 Godhra train burning incident.
The board acquitted two others charged in the case, who were also juveniles at the time of the horrific incident.
The JJB suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow the three convicts to appeal against the order in a higher court, their lawyer Salman Charkha said.
On February 27, 2002, as many as 59 people, most of them 'kar sevaks', were killed when the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was torched at Godhra station by a mob. The carnage triggered widespread communal riots in the state in which over a thousand people were killed.
A Godhra court had in 2011 convicted 31 accused in the case and acquitted 63 others. Eleven of the convicts were sentenced to death, while 20 were handed life imprisonment by the trial court.
Later, the Gujarat High Court upheld the trial court ruling to convict the 31 accused, but commuted the death sentence of the 11 to life imprisonment.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)