<p> The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a plea for granting compensation to six men who were held guilty by a trial court in the 2002 Akshardham temple terror attack case.<br /><br /></p>.<p> The men were later acquitted of the charges by the apex court in May 2014. <br />A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R Banumathi expressed its reservation over allowing such pleas, saying an acquittal can be ordered on several grounds in a case since the guilt has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt.<br /><br />On their acquittal by the Supreme Court in May 2014, the accused filed petitions, demanding compensation for their wrongful prosecution and for protracted trial, forcing them to remain in jail.<br /><br />“Most of the appeals travel to this court because it is the final appellate court. An appellate court can either uphold conviction or set it aside. Can we lay down a principle to compensate everybody who gets acquitted by this court,” the bench told senior counsel K T S Tulsi, representing the petitioners. <br /><br />Tulsi, on his part, pointed out in the present case, the apex court had censured Gujarat police for framing these “innocent” people. He sought exemplary compensation for wrongful jail.<br /><br />‘Many reasons’<br /><br />As the bench maintained that the acquittal could be granted due to various reasons and refused to delve into the distinction between a terror case and any other criminal case, Tulsi preferred to withdraw the petition.<br /><br />The six convicts, three of whom were on the death row, had been convicted of participating in the criminal conspiracy to retaliate the post-Godhra communal riots by a terror strike at the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar.<br /><br />In the attack, two fidayeen sprayed bullets indiscriminately from their Ak-56 rifles and used hand grenades to kill 33 devotees and tourists and injured another 86 before being killed by NSG commandos on September 25, 2002.<br /><br /></p>
<p> The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a plea for granting compensation to six men who were held guilty by a trial court in the 2002 Akshardham temple terror attack case.<br /><br /></p>.<p> The men were later acquitted of the charges by the apex court in May 2014. <br />A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R Banumathi expressed its reservation over allowing such pleas, saying an acquittal can be ordered on several grounds in a case since the guilt has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt.<br /><br />On their acquittal by the Supreme Court in May 2014, the accused filed petitions, demanding compensation for their wrongful prosecution and for protracted trial, forcing them to remain in jail.<br /><br />“Most of the appeals travel to this court because it is the final appellate court. An appellate court can either uphold conviction or set it aside. Can we lay down a principle to compensate everybody who gets acquitted by this court,” the bench told senior counsel K T S Tulsi, representing the petitioners. <br /><br />Tulsi, on his part, pointed out in the present case, the apex court had censured Gujarat police for framing these “innocent” people. He sought exemplary compensation for wrongful jail.<br /><br />‘Many reasons’<br /><br />As the bench maintained that the acquittal could be granted due to various reasons and refused to delve into the distinction between a terror case and any other criminal case, Tulsi preferred to withdraw the petition.<br /><br />The six convicts, three of whom were on the death row, had been convicted of participating in the criminal conspiracy to retaliate the post-Godhra communal riots by a terror strike at the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar.<br /><br />In the attack, two fidayeen sprayed bullets indiscriminately from their Ak-56 rifles and used hand grenades to kill 33 devotees and tourists and injured another 86 before being killed by NSG commandos on September 25, 2002.<br /><br /></p>
