Simultaneously, she also directed the state government to shift all the 79 accused in the case from the Sabarmati Central Jail to the Godhra district jail by revoking the orders under Section 268 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which prevented shifting them from the Sabarmati jail.

With this development, the trial will now commence in the Godhra Sessions Court under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Once the trial starts, the accused can apply for bail, which was earlier denied to them under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).

Advocate Ilyas Khan, representing the accused, said, all records and proceedings of the case will now be transferred to Godhra for initiating the trial.

With Friday’s orders, the accused will now have to be shifted to the Godhra district jail, bringing much relief to their relatives, who earlier had to send meals for the accused daily from Godhra to Ahmedabad.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court also ordered that the Special POTA Court in Ahmedabad must implement the apex court’s order of December 1, 2008, upholding the constitutional validity of the Central POTA Review Committee (CPRC).

The CPRC had recommended that POTA did not apply to the accused in the Godhra train case as there was no evidence of terror conspiracy. It also recommended the trial of the accused under the IPC.

The recommendations were made binding on the court and the state government. Its implementation was, however, delayed due to a case filed by a relative of the Godhra train carnage, challenging the findings of the CPRC.

On Friday, the Supreme Court also refused to grant a stay on the Gujarat High Court judgment dismissing POTA charges against the accused.

The apex court’s directions came on Sardarsinh Maganji Vaghela’s petition that had demanded a stay on the High Court’s orders.

The High Court had, in its February 12 order, observed that there was no evidence to suggest that the accused had entered a conspiracy and had committed the offence, though it was without doubt, a serious and shocking incident. The bench had ordered the shifting of the case from the POTA Court to the trial court.

Sayeed Umarjee, the son of 72-year-old Maulana Hussain Umarjee, who is lodged in the Sabarmati Central Jail, welcomed the ruling to shift the trial to the Godhra Sessions Court.

He demanded an apology from the state government for “maligning the Muslims of Godhra by portraying them as terrorists”, and also sought action against the policemen “for framing the accused under POTA without evidence”.

Sayeed also welcomed the Supreme Court order to refuse a stay on the Gujarat High Court order repealing POTA against the Godhra accused. Senior advocate Mukul Sinha, who had defended the POTA victims, said: “It is a victory of seven years of struggle and vindication of the innocence of the minority community.”

He added: “We have been saying from the beginning that POTA was invoked in the Godhra case by the Gujarat government and investigating officer Noel Parmar, with mala fide political intentions to malign the Muslim community and portray them as terrorists. What they wanted was mass reaction from the Hindu community to carry out genocide on Muslims.”