BeyondHeadlines News Desk
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today rejected the plea of more than 50 accused in the 2008 Gujarat serial bomb blasts that the trial in the BJP-ruled state could not be held in a free and fair manner because of the surcharged communal atmosphere in the aftermath of the 2002 Godhra massacre, PTI reported. More than 56 people were killed in the explosions.
Dismissing the plea, a bench of Justices Altamash Kabir and Cyriac Joseph said: “Things have considerably ‘settled down’ after the Godhra killings and hence, the claim of the accused that the trial could not be held in a fair manner was mere apprehension.”
It, however, granted liberty to the accused to move the court again if and when there were genuine apprehensions of the trial being held in a vitiated atmosphere.
The apex court had earlier in 2009 stayed the trial against the accused after the latter sought transfer of the cases outside the state on the ground that the prosecution and the investigating agencies were totally biased in favor of the ruling party.
