The Supreme Court on Friday granted another three months to the trial court in Ahmedabad to wind up the proceedings in the Gulberg Society and Naroda Gam riot cases of 2002 in Gujarat.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justices M.B. Lokur and M.Y. Eqbal took on the record letter of the District Judge, Ahmedabad, seeking extension of time to conclude the trial.
“We grant extension by three months,” the Bench said.
In the Gulberg Society massacre case, former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri and 67 others were killed. In the Naroda Gam case in which 11 people were killed, former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani is one of the accused.
The apex court has been monitoring nine sensitive cases on the plea of National Human Rights Commission and various non-governmental organisations.
These cases were about the riots in Gulberg Society, Ode, Sardarpura, Narodao Gaon, Naroda Patya, Machipith, Tarsali, Pandarwada and Raghavapura.
Bail for Bajrangi The Gujarat High Court granted a temporary three-month bail to former VHP leader Babu Bajrangi, convict in the Naroda Patiya riot case of 2002, on medical grounds.
A Division Bench of Justices Ravi Tripathi and R.D. Kothari allowed the petition for interim bail moved by Bajrangi’s wife, Meena Patel, seeking his release for 90 days for an eye treatment. The petition said he was gradually turning blind and needed to be out on bail for treatment in a private hospital.
The High Court had earlier granted him temporary bail five times on various grounds. Ms. Patel had written to Gujarat Governor O.P. Kohli seeking mercy to release her husband as he was losing his vision.
