Life term for convict Yakub Pataliya in Godhra train burning case

NEW DELHI: Convict Yakub Pataliya has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Special Investigative Team (SIT) court in 2002 Godhra train burning case, Indian media reported on Wednesday.

Yakub Pataliya is among one of the most wanted accused of the mob that had torched the coaches of Sabarmati Express near Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002, killing at least 59 people and triggering state-wide communal riots where nearly 1,000, most of them Muslims, had died.

Pataliya had been arrested by Gujarat Police in January last year who was on the run for 16 years and among 94 accused in the train carnage case.

The special SIT court had initiated its investigation on March 1 – 2011 and convicted 31 people and acquitted 63 over burning Coach S6 of the Sabarmati Express, India Today reported.

Among the persons convicted under IPC sections related to murder, attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy, eleven were awarded death penalty and the remaining were pronounced life term.

The convictions and the acquittals were challenged in the Gujarat High Court that had already commuted the death sentence awarded to 11 persons to life imprisonment in 2017.

Background

A coach of the train–Coach S6–had set ablaze and 59 passengers said to be ‘kar sevaks’ travelling in Sabarmati Express that coach were charred to death including 27 women and 10 children while 48 other passengers were received injuries on February 27 – 2002.

The incident had spread one of the worst anti-Muslim riots in the history of Gujarat that killed over 1,000 people, most of them Muslims.