The state government has challenged a trial court's decision to acquit 61 persons in the Godhra train burning case in Gujarat high court and sought death sentences for twenty convicts awarded life imprisonment in the case.
Possible chinks in the Gujarat government's "conspiracy theory" were on Tuesday pointed out to the Godhra inquiry commission, which is in the final stages of hearing events associated with the burning of the Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002.
'In the history of India this kind of scores and ranks has never happened in exams.'
The high court also upheld the trial court order convicting two on charges of murder and acquitted another accused Devabhai Samatbhai Bharwad.
Ghulam Rabbani, a practising advocate, lodged the two-page complaint with Santosh Nagar police station, seeking legal action against Modi and his immediate arrest terming his statements as "highly provocative and malicious against Muslim community, with an intention to wound their religious feelings and promote enmity between Muslims and Hindus".
A special court in the Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad on Tuesday convicted 31 accused in what is the first verdict in the Godhra train burning case.
"The courts of law will take their own course...there are processes involved because definitely there will be an appeal filed in the high court. Therefore, it is premature to comment on this," Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told media persons in New Delhi.
Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge, meanwhile, came to Siddaramaiah's defence, stating that the party is standing with him and will support him.
The Banerjee Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the Godhra train burning incident, was on Thursday given a three-month extension by the Union Cabinet.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice C K Thakker directed that the matter shall be heard in August.
The special investigation team conducting preliminary inquiry on the complaint against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 62 others has sought extension from the Supreme Court, sources in said in Ahmedabad on Monday.
In the wake of the Gujarat high court order regarding the PIL filed by suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, the state government has submitted some of the documents pertaining to the 2002 post-Godhra riots to the Nanavati Commission.
Demanding that the Banerjee Committee report be placed on the table of the House, Mr Madhusoodhan Mistry (Congress) said, "Mr Modi should not be allowed to continue even for a single day as chief minister as he has failed to do his duty."
The cleric is a key accused in the Godhra train burning case.
'It is easy to become railway minister but it is difficult to understand the functioning of the ministry,' JD-U leader Nitish Kumar said sarcastically.
The world premiere of Parzania is held in Goa.
The Gujarat high court has rejected a petition seeking direction to the Justice Nanavati-Mehta Commission inquiring into the post-Godhra riots of 2002, to summon Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Bilal Abdul Badam and Rafiq Ahmed Kadir were arrested from Satpole area of Ahmedabad.
Kodnani is an accused in the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya case. Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaideep Patel, another key accused in the Naroda Gam case behind bars, was also granted bail.
Govind Nai was the prime accused in the Referral hospital murder case.
Three persons were arrested by the Special Investigation Team in connection with three different cases of the post-Godhra riots, SIT sources said.Subhashchandra Darji was arrested in connection with the Naroda Patiya case where 89 people where killed by a mob during the 2002 riots.Darji was part of the mob and instigated the rioters that had attacked the minority community members living in Naroda area, SIT sources alleged.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Prashant Kumar Mishra noted, in accordance with its May 9 order, notices have been published in local newspapers, including those in Gujarati and English, against the convicts who could not be served (the notice).
The review plea filed by Ramesh Rupabhai Chandana said the top court erred while passing the impugned order and overruling judgment dated May 13, 2022, passed by another bench of the apex court.
Shaukat Alias Bhano Pataliya, Rafique Ahmed Ibhrahim alias Bum, and Habib alias Badshah were allegedly part of the mob that attacked the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express.
They said the agency is also taking steps to bring under its ambit cases registered in various states by the police.
Father Fredrick Prakash, who runs a non-governmental organisation 'Prashant', told rediff.com that the organisation would be releasing selective audio-visual clippings that reportedly establish Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's complicity in the riots following the burning of Sabarmati Express in Godhra on February 27, 2002
Alleged Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist Sunil Joshi wanted to kill Justice U C Banerjee who headed an inquiry commission on Godhra train burning case, and had even conducted reconnaissance of his house in Kolkata, according to a witness in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case.
Excerpts of a book written by a former Indian Administrative Service officer have been submitted to the Nanavati-Mehta Commission, probing the post-Godhra riots, by a former Gujarat director general of police saying they contain 'relevant material' for the panel.
Heeding the demand of suspended Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt, Nanavati Commission on Wednesday ordered a high-level inquiry into the alleged destruction of 2002 post-Godhra riot papers.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday appointed K G Menon, a senior advocate from Mumbai, to assist the Special Investigation Team (SIT) earlier constituted by it for a fresh probe or further investigations into 14 post Godhra riot cases.
The court said that all the convicts will have to undertake community services for six hours a week besides reporting to the local police station on a weekly basis as bail conditions.
The Special Investigation Team that investigated the Godhra train burning incident on Tuesday indicated that it may go in for an appeal against the acquittal of the main accused and 62 others in the case.
In its order of June 12, which was made available on June 15, the court of additional sessions judge Harsh Trivedi also slammed pseudo-secular media and politicians for claiming that the riots were planned.
The Gujarat high court on Wednesday granted two months' time to the special court to submit case papers of the 2002 Godhra train burning case, in which 11 persons have received death sentence, while 20 others have been awarded life imprisonment.
His son Rajesh got charred to death in the torched bogie and his daugher-in-law Chanda walked away with the compensation and two grand daughters, leaving her then six-year-old son Jatin in his grandfather's care.
The Gujarat high court on Thursday issued a notice to the Special Investigation Team on a petition by a convict sentenced to death in the Godhra train carnage, demanding that additional evidence in form of CDs of a TV sting operation be brought on record
"The avenues for challenging the Gujarat high court's order are still open, and we will go to the apex court in this regard."
