A Supreme Court Bench, headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, on Tuesday granted bail to four convicts in the case of massacre of 97 people by a mob on February 28, 2002, in the Naroda Patiaya area of Ahmedabad.

The convicts are Umeshbhai Surabhai Bharwad, Rajkumar, Padmendrasinh Jaswantsinh Rajput and Harshad alias Mungda Jila Govind Chhara Parmar.

On April 20, 2018, the Gujarat High Court upheld the conviction of 12 out of the 29 accused who were pronounced guilty on various charges by the trial court and acquitted 17 others, including former BJP minister Maya Kodnani.

The massacre took place a day after 59 people died in a fire inside the Sabarmati Express near the Godhra railway station. The victims were Hindu pilgrims who were returning from Ayodhya after a religious ceremony at the disputed Babri Masjid site.