On February 20, the Supreme Court reviewed the bail requests submitted by the defendants in the 2002 Godhra train burning case. A bench made up of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Judge JB Pardiwala was assigned to hear the case. Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General of India, testified on behalf of the State of Gujarat, saying that given the seriousness of the crime, the State would push for the cases to be classified as "rarest of rare." He added that, in accordance with Gujarat State policy, the cases of convicts could not be taken into consideration for early release because TADA regulations had been applied to them. 

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta began describing the roles the prisoners had played in the case at the commencement. He spoke

"This is the case where 59 people were burnt alive. It is consistent that the bogey was locked from outside. The 59 people who died included ladies and children. See the first convict who has challenged the sentence. He was identified in Test Identification Parade. He was pelting stones with motive of not letting passengers come out. The second- his role is also clear. In the third convict's case, the distinction is that a deadly weapon was found on him. The fourth one- he played an active role in hatching the conspiracy. He purchased petrol, stored petrol, carried petrol and used the petrol for the purpose of burning..."

CJI DY Chandrachud noted that one of the prisoners had been granted bail by the bench due to a medical condition. The order was given by CJI DY Chandrachud, who said:

"It has been agreed that the AORs on behalf of applicants along with Advocate Swati Ghildiyal, standing counsel for State of Gujarat shall prepare a chart with all relevant details. List after 3 weeks."

In the fire that broke out aboard the Sabarmati Express's S-6 coach on February 27, 2002, which was transporting kar sevaks from Ayodhya, 58 people perished. Gujarat experienced racial unrest as a result of the Godhra atrocity. 

31 people were found guilty by the trial court in March 2011, with 20 receiving life sentences and 11 receiving the death penalty. 63 further suspects were exonerated. In 2017, the Gujarat High Court affirmed the life sentences given to the remaining 20 defendants while commuting the death sentences of 11 to life terms. Since 2018, the Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the appeals that the convicted parties filed.

Case Title: Abdul Rahman Dhantiya v. State of Gujarat
Citation: Crl. A. 517/2018 and connected cases.