A special trial court on August 27 convicted two more people while acquitted three others in 2002 Sabarmati Express train burning case at Godhra railway station in which nearly 58 people lost their lives. The five accused were arrested by different agencies in 2015-16 and were put on trial by Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team at the Sabarmati Central Jail.
Special judge H.C. Vora awarded the life sentence to Farooq Bhana and Imran Sheru and acquitted Hussain Suleman Mohan, Kasam Bhamedi, and Faruk Dhantiya.
Eight accused in the case are still absconding.
On March 1, 2011, the court convicted 31 persons in the case and later awarded death sentence to 11 of them and life imprisonment to 20 others.
In October 2017, the Gujarat High Court commuted the death sentence awarded to 11 convicts to life term while upholding the life sentence awarded to 20 others by the special SIT court in 2011.
In Godhra train burning case around 58 persons lost their lives when some coaches of Sabarmati Express were torched at the Godhra Railway Station in Gujarat on February 27, 2002. The incident had triggered large-scale riots in Gujarat which claimed over 1000 lives.
