Verdict on 2002 Godhra train burning today

Godhra: A special court will deliver the crucial judgement in the Godhra train fire of 2002, on Tuesday. The big questions that will be answered include whether the coach was set on fire in cold blood, or whether it was an accident.

The truth about what happened on February 27, 2002, on the railway tracks of Godhra, has often been clouded by what followed in Gujarat. To unravel the facts and sequence of events that led to the death of 59 kar sevaks in the burning of the Sabarmati Express was the task in front of the Gujarat police.

Nine years later the police wait for the court to deliver its verdict on their case which is - that the act was a pre-planned conspiracy, an act of terror with help from the ISI, the accused took cans of petrol through the vestibules and burnt coach S-6 and the kar sevaks inside it, the aim was to create communal hatred in India, 134 accused have been named of which 16 are absconding, 13 released for lack of evidence and 80 of the accused are in jail and 15 out on bail.

The police's case was backed by the Justice Nanavati Commission appointed to probe the Gujarat riots. But another former supreme court judge Justice UC Banerjee, who investigated the case for the railways, concluded that it was an accident and that the witnesses made their statements under duress. Defence lawyers argue that the police's investigations are biased since Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had declared soon after the incident that it was a pre-planned conspiracy.

Human Rights Advocate Mukul Sinha said, "Once the head of the state says that, you can imagine what will be the line of investigation. So the entire investigation was done to prove this one point."

The verdict from the sessions court is crucial but will not be the last word, whichever way it goes it is likely to be challenged and eventually taken to the Supreme Court.

The state government has remained adamant on the charges it has framed and activists have punctured several holes in the state's claims. As we finally reach the day of judgement, it is important to remember that what the court says will have a huge impact on the entire Gujarat debate.

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