Guj allows transfer of 3 convicts to Vadodara jail
Last year, eight convicts in the case had asked for a transfer from Kolhapur Central jail to Vadodara prison in Gujarat so that they could be close to their families.
Last year, eight convicts in the case had asked for a transfer from Kolhapur Central jail to Vadodara prison in Gujarat so that they could be close to their families.
However, a communication sent by the deputy inspector general, prisons, Gujarat state, Ahmedabad, stated that the proposal of transferring three of the convicts - Rajubhai Baria, Suresh Vasava and Shailesh Tadvi - to Vadodara prison had been accepted by the Gujarat state government.
"You are requested to do the needful to transfer the said prisoners with relevant documents and under proper police escort," said a two-page fax. Advocate Murtaza Nazmi, who was appointed from the legal aid panel to represent the convicts, submitted the fax to the Bombay high court on Tuesday.
On Thursday, while arguing on behalf of the fourth convict, Dinesh Rajbhar, Nazmi said they had challenged the provisions of the criminal procedure code that barred transfer of a convict pending hearing in the appeal.
A division bench of justice AM Khanwilkar and justice AR Joshi will hear the case on February 15. The Supreme Court had shifted the Best Bakery trial to Maharashtra from Gujarat. All eight accused have been lodged in Kolhapur jail since February 2007 after a special court in Mumbai convicted them for burning 14 people inside Best Bakery at Hanuman Tekdi in Vadodara.
Their petition in the high court said that their families were unable to visit them frequently. Also, they were in financial crisis and could not undertake such long travel.