Committee set up for post-Godhra riot convicts to be relocated

The Madhya Pradesh State Legal Services Authority (MPSLSA) has constituted a coordination committee to monitor spiritual programmes, meditation drills and community services to be taken up by thirteen convicts in the 2002 Sardarpura post-Godhra riots case, an official said on Saturday.

The convicts will be divided into two groups and will report at Indore and Jabalpur in the state, MPSLSA member secretary Giribala Singh told PTI.

On January 28, 2020, the Supreme Court had granted bail to thirteen convicts ofSardarpura post-Godhra riots case of Gujarat, in which 33 Muslims were burnt alive, and had asked them to relocate to Madhya Pradesh and undertake community service.

MPSLSA executive chairman Justice Sanjay Yadav will preside over a meeting of the coordination committee next week to discuss issues related to the convicts, she said, adding that the superintendents of police of Jabalpur and Indore will also participate in the meeting.

"The committee will also discuss on how to facilitate employment for the convicts as directed by the court. The convicts have been divided into groups of seven, which will report at Civil Lines police station in Jabalpur, and six, which will report at Palasia police station in Indore," she said.

The MPSLSA will have to furnish a report every three months on the conduct of these 13 convicts, she added.

Queried on when the convicts will arrive in Madhya Pradesh, she said it would depend on when they are released on bail.

The Supreme Court, in its order, had said all the convicts will have to undertake community services for six hours a week besides reporting to the local police station on a weekly basis as bail conditions.