11 SENTENCED TO DETH FOR 2002 GODHRA TRAIN BURNING
The Godhra train burning – On 02/27/2002, the Sabarmati Express was set on fire in which a sleeper coach on a passenger train was burned by Islamists in Godhra, Gujarat, India. 59 passengers died, all of them Hindu pilgrims coming from Ayodhya (see – Ayodhya Report), and the event triggered religious violence in Gujarat, resulting in the deaths of about 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus.
In the very first police report, the incident was viewed as unplanned mob fury. However, a Special Investigating Team (SIT) of the Gujarat police argued that the coach was set on fire as a planned act by a Muslim group, who were said to have stockpiled 140 liters of petrol from the day before for the purpose of killing the passengers.
A commission set up by the Railways ministry reported in 2005 that the fire was almost certainly an accident, but the Gujarat High Court ruled formation of this enquiry commission by Railways as “illegal” and “unconstitutional”. As of now all its probe results stand invalid. Another judicial committee, investigating charges opined in 2005 that the actions of the Muslim mob were most likely spontaneous and not planned. A commission set up by the Gujarat government upheld in 2008 the original SIT claims that it was a conspiracy.
In February 2011, the court agreed that the incident was a planned conspiracy, and convicted 31 people of burning the train. 63 were acquitted. The court acquitted prime accused Maulana Umarji while other prominent accused Haji Billa and Rajjak Kurkur were convicted.
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