Conviction debatable in Naroda Patiya case says SC, while granting bail to 4 accused

New Delhi, Jan 23: The Supreme Court has ordered the release of four convicts on bail in connection with the 202 Naroda Patiya riots case.

A Bench comprising Justice A M Khanwilkar granted bail to four convicts on the ground that the high court order of conviction was debatable. They should be released on bail as they appeals would take time, the Bench said.

The Bench granted bail to Umeshbhai Surabhai Bharwad, Rajkumar, Padmendrasinh Jaswantsinh Rajput and Harshad alias Mungda Jila Govind Chhara Parmar on bail after imposing ordinary conditions to be laid out by the trial court.

At least 97 Muslims were killed in Ahmedabad's Naroda Patiya area on February 28, 2002, when a mob of thousands descended upon the locality, and murdered them.

The Gujarat HC had primarily relied upon identification of these convicts by police officials but in some cases, no identification parade was conducted and the appeals raised doubt over their identification in a group of around 15,000 persons, the SC said.

"Prima facie, we find that the approach of the High court is debatable," said the bench, while granting bail to Bharwad. It also noted that Bharwad was undergoing treatment for HIV and that he had been on bail during the trial of the case.

"Prima facie, we find this approach to be doubtful, especially when the witnesses relied upon by the prosecution are police officials and no identification parade of this applicant was conducted during the investigation by the Police," the Bench said while granting bail to Rajkumar.

The court also released another convict, Prakashbhai Sureshbhai Rathod, on interim bail between January 28 and February 15 to attend his daughter's wedding.