The eight life convicts in the Gujarat Best Bakery case are feeling homesick, and have requested the Bombay high court to shift them from Kolhapur central prison to the one in Vadodara so that they can be closer to their families.
The Best Bakery trial, part of the post-Godhara riots in Gujarat in March 2002, was shifted to Maharashtra by the supreme court to ensure a fair trial. The convicts have been lodged in the Kolhapur central prison since February 2007.
In a letter, the convicts have stated that since they have been lodged at Kolhapur prison, their families have not been able to visit them frequently. “We are away from our families. Most of our families are facing a financial crisis and end up not meeting us as it is expensive and time consuming,” says the letter which has now been converted in to a writ petition by the high court.
The convicts have also pointed to the difficulty in seeking furlough. The petition states that since they are the residents of Gujarat, they don’t have any relatives in Maharashtra who can stand surety for them to seek furlough.
“Hence, we have not been able to go out of jail even once since we were imprisoned,” states the petition. Under the law, convicts are granted a 15-day furlough every year.
Rajubhai Baria, Pankaj Goasvi, Sanjay Thakkar, Bahadursingh Chauhan, Jagdish Rajput, Dinesh Rajbhar, Sanabhai Baria and Shailesh Tadvi were convicted by a special court in February 2007.
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