SC Rejects Godhra Arson Convicts' Appeals to Refer to 3-Judge Bench

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to refer the appeals filed by convicts in the Godhra train burning case to a three-judge bench, affirming that such a requirement was only necessary if the high court had upheld the death sentence on some of the convicts.

- Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI: A bench headed by Justice JK Maheshwari was confronted with this issue as it began hearing the appeals filed by the convicts in the Godhra train carnage of February 27, 2002 which claimed 59 lives. Out of the 31 convicts, 11 were given death sentence by the trial court, but the Gujarat hig