Nine Best Bakery accused challenge conviction in HC

Mumbai, July 17 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today admitted the appeal by nine people held guilty by a lower court in the Best Bakery case, challenging their life imprisonment sentences.

A division bench, comprising Justices D G Deshpande and S A Bobde, today deferred for two weeks the hearing of the appeal admitted by the accused --Jagdish Rajput, Dinesh Rajghad, Suresh Vasave, Rajubhai Baria, Pankaj Gosai, Sanjay Thakkar, Bahadursingh Chauhan, Shanabhai Baria and Sailesh Tadvi.

A Mumbai court had, on February 24, sentenced these nine people to life imprisonment, holding them guilty of murder of fourteen persons by setting the Best Bakery afire during the post-Godhra riots.

The verdict was delivered by Judge Abhay Thipsay, who, in addition to life imprisonment, had awarded jail terms to the convicts ranging from one to ten years on various counts under IPC including rioting, unlawful assembly for causing grievous hurt, voluntarily causing hurt and being part of an unlawful assembly armed with explosives. The judge had ruled that these sentences would run concurrently and after serving these terms, the convicts will undergo their life term.

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