Train carnage: Documents shifted to Godhra

VADODARA: The documents pertaining to Godhra train carnage case were sent to Godhra sessions court by POTA court in Ahmedabad. The move follows the Supreme Court's order repealing POTA imposed on the accused in the case.
Sources in Godhra said that the documents were formally received by the Godhra sessions court on Thursday. "The move follows an order by the POTA court on March 6 to transfer all relevant papers pertaining to the case to the sessions court at Godhra," said advocate AA Hasan, who is representing some accused in the case.
Hasan said that the procedure of transferring the papers took some time, as it was a laborious process to prepare certified copies of all the documents before sending them to Godhra. "A set of the copies of all documents of the case has been kept with the POTA court too," he said.
The counsel said the Godhra sessions court would now register the case with itself and give it a fresh number. He added the accused in the case will now be able to file bail petitions as the Supreme Court had allowed this in an earlier order. "The trial, however, shall not commence as the SC had earlier granted a stay on it in 2003," Hasan said.
Notably, the first chargesheet in the case was filed with a Godhra court and a joint sessions judge was handed over the matter. However, after POTA was invoked the case was transferred to the POTA court in Ahmedabad. As many as 59 persons had died in the attack on Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002.