Friends of the Rail Forum

BBC 22 February 2011 Last updated at 11:33 GMT

India Godhra train blaze verdict: 31 convicted

A special court in the western Indian state of Gujarat has found 31 people guilty of setting fire to a passenger train in the town of Godhra in 2002.

The court acquitted 63 other people of conspiracy and murder.

The Sabarmati Express was attacked by a Muslim mob killing 59 people, mainly Hindu pilgrims.

The attack led to some of the worst riots seen in India and left more than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, dead.

Gujarat's authorities were criticised for not doing enough to stop the riots.

Those convicted will be sentenced on Friday. Security is tight across Gujarat and extra police have been deployed in case of communal unrest. All of those accused and convicted were Muslim.

Conspiracy

The attackers were said to have forced the train, carrying Hindu pilgrims from Ayodhya, to stop and then set fire to one of the carriages.

"The court has accepted the conspiracy theory. It was not an accident," public prosecutor JM Panchal is quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

Whether or not there was a conspiracy to set the train ablaze or whether it was a spontaneous fire has long been the subject of dispute.

An inquiry commission set up by the state government said in 2008 that the burning of the train was a "conspiracy".

It examined more than 1,000 witnesses during a six-year period, found that 140 litres of petrol had been purchased as part of what it said had been a conspiracy to burn the train carriage.

That commission also exonerated Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the deadly religious riots that followed the blaze.

He was accused of failing to halt the religious violence and some opponents said he indirectly encouraged some of the Hindu rioters. But the commission dismissed these allegations.

"There is absolutely no evidence to show that either the chief minister or any of the ministers in his council or police officers played any role in the Godhra incident," Justice GT Nanavati had concluded in his report.

But Mr Modi was criticised in 2010 for his "partisan" stance by a separate Supreme Court panel which investigated the riots.

It said he showed "discriminatory attitude by not visiting riot-affected areas in Ahmedabad where a large number of Muslims were killed," according to Tehelka magazine and AFP news agency.

The inquiry commission's findings contradicted an earlier probe by retired Supreme Court judge Umesh Chandra Banerjee, who found that the coach fire was not deliberately started.

He concluded in 2005 that the fire began by accident.

He said there was evidence to suggest the blaze began inside the train and that it was not fire-bombed.

Analysis

Soutik Biswas BBC News, Delhi

The Godhra train fire has been a matter of dispute between the Congress party and Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Investigations ordered by governments led by the two parties have contradicted each other on the cause of the fire. The BJP says it has been vindicated by the court's decision - it had always insisted that the fire was a result of a conspiracy by a Muslim mob.

Though the verdict is likely to be challenged in a higher court, many in India are appalled that the tragedy has been used to score political brownie points.

GODHRA TRAIN BURNING

* 27 February 2002: Fire in Sabarmati Express at Godhra kills 59 passengers, mainly Hindus
* 28 February 2002: Religious clashes begin in Gujarat, leaving more than 1,000 people dead, mainly Muslims.
* 21 May 2002: Gujarat government sets up a commission to probe the train fire and the riots
* 3 March 2006: Justice UC Banerjee submits report saying the train fire was an accident
* 25 September 2008: Justice Nanavati's report describes the train burning as a " conspiracy"

Godhra train fire verdict prompts tight security measures

Officials in Gujarat fear inter-communal violence after 31 Muslims convicted of the deaths of 60 Hindus in 2002

* Jason Burke in Delhi
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 February 2011 11.44 GMT

India has imposed tight security measures across much of the western state of Gujarat following the conviction of 31 Muslim men for setting fire to a train in which 60 Hindu pilgrims and activists died nine years ago.

The incident, which took place in the town of Godhra in February 2002, triggered some of the worst inter-communal violence in India for decades. More than 1,200 people, mainly from the minority Muslim community, were killed as groups of Hindus rioted in Muslim neighbourhoods and towns across the state.

Gujurat security officials fear a repeat of the violence following the verdict.

Public gatherings of more than four people in areas seen as prone to violence have been prohibited, local media have been asked not to broadcast images of the clashes that followed the attack on the train, and around 15,000 extra police have been deployed.

The families of the more than 60 people acquitted of taking part in the train attack have been given police protection.

Those convicted are to be sentenced later in the week. Many have been in jail for years, arrested soon after the violence.

Special public prosecutor JM Panchal said he was satisfied with the verdict.

The case has become highly politicised, reflecting deep divides in India.

The chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi – a rising star in the rightwing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) – has been repeatedly accused of failing to stop Hindu revenge attacks.

Modi has always denied such claims, but they have tarnished his image and that of the state, one of India's most successful in economic terms.

A BJP spokesman said after the verdict that "law and justice has prevailed", adding: "There were elements who were trying to belittle [the case]. There have been politicians who tried to abuse it."

An investigation by a judge six years ago had concluded that the train fire had been an accident. However, a separate inquiry found it had been pre-planned and that the train, having been doused in petrol, was deliberately set alight by a mob.

Commentators say that inter-communal strife following the verdict is unlikely. Last year, calm followed a controversial court decision over the disputed religious site of Ayodhya in northern India which granted many of the demands of Hindu religious groups, leading many to conclude that the days when sectarian issues could explode into street violence are over.

Men given death sentences for Indian train fire

Eleven found guilty of 2002 arson attack that killed 60 Hindu nationalists and triggered religious riots in Gujarat

* Associated Press
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 March 2011 09.17 GMT

An Indian court has sentenced 11 men to death after finding them guilty of setting a train on fire nine years ago, killing 60 Hindu nationalists and triggering one of India's worst outbursts of religious violence in recent years.

Judge P R Patel last week convicted 31 Muslim men of being part of a criminal conspiracy that led to the deaths of 60 people when a Sabarmati Express train coach packed with Hindu pilgrims was set on fire by a Muslim mob in Godhra, western Gujarat, in 2002.

The court on Tuesday sentenced the other 20 people convicted in the case to life imprisonment, prosecutor J M Panchal said. Those convicted have 90 days to appeal against their sentence.

About 1,000 people were killed after the fire, when groups of Hindus rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods and towns in Gujarat from February to April 2002. Most of the dead were Muslims.

The religious violence was among India's worst since its independence from Britain in 1947. The state government, which has been controlled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party, has been accused by the opposition and media of not doing enough to stop the violence and of even stoking it. Gujarat officials deny the claim.