Gujarat High Court grants regular bail to Gulbarg society massacre case accused and VHP leader Atul Vaidya

Ahmedabad: Gujarat High court has granted regular bail to one of the 24 convicts of Gulbarg society massacre case pertaining to 2002 Gujarat riots which had seen killing of 69 people including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri on February 28 that year a day after the burning of a coach of Sabarmati express in Godhara, and VHP leader Atul Vaidya.

A special SIT court here on June 17 last year had sentenced Vaidya with seven years jail term.

The High Court granted bail to Vaidya on the ground that his appeal before it was pending and he already had served one year in jail. He is the first accused of the sensational case to get regular bail.

Declining to treat the Gulbarg Society case pertaining to 2002 Gujarat riots as a ‘rarest of rare’ incident, a special court here in June last year had awarded life sentence to the 11 convicts held guilty for murder during the massacre. The court sentenced 10 years of jail term to the sole convict held guilty of attempt to murder and seven years each to the remaining 12 including the VHP leader Atul Vaidya.

SIT counsel R C Kodekar during course of argument had sought capital punishment or at least life term for the 11 convicts held guilty of murder terming it a rarest of rare incident. The defense on the other hand had sought leniency from the court on two main grounds; the incident being allegedly provoked by firing by Late Mr. Jafri in which one person died and 15 injured and the convicts not being professional criminals.

The court had held 24 of the total 66 accused guilty on June 2 while acquitted the remaining 36. Six had died during the trial. The court conducted a separate hearing on the quantum of punishment from June 6. Of the 24 convicts 11 are held guilty under various charges including that of murder while one is guilty of attempt to murder and remaining 12 including VHP leader Atul Vaidya are guilty under lesser charges like rioting and unlawful assembling. The special court had dropped the charges of criminal conspiracy under section 120 B in the case.

The Gulbarg Society case, which took place in Meghaninagar area of the city. is one of the nine cases of the 2002 Gujarat riots probed by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT. The incident had taken place a day after S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was burnt near Godhra train station on February 27, 2002 during which 58 innocent people were killed.

DeshGujarat