Godhra train burning

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The Godhra train burning incident occurred in the town of Godhra in the Indian state of Gujarat at 0630 hrs on 27 February 2002. One of the coaches (Coach #S6) of a train named the "Sabarmati Express" was set on fire right after it left the train station. The coach was occupied by Hindu religious pilgrims called Kar Sevaks who were returning from Ayodhya. 58 Hindu pilgrims (23 men, 15 women and 20 children) who were inside, were burnt alive, and the coach was completely gutted by the fire. The fire started during an attack by a Muslim mob following an altercation between the Hindu pilgrims and local Muslims when the train was in platform. Several different inquiries were held, and inquires are still ongoing.

The UPA government inquiries into the incident concluded that the fire which burned the carriage was the result of a cooking-fire accident inside the carriage itself, and was not the result of the mob attack. ^[1] The BBC further adds that:

"Retired Supreme Court judge Umesh Chandra Banerjee, who is leading the government inquiry, dismissed suggestions that inflammable liquid could have been thrown at the train from outside."

However, these finding have been rejected by BJP politicians in Gujarat.

The attack led to the 2002 Gujarat Riots, in which mostly Muslims were killed in retaliation.

The Gujarat High Court ruling, as of 2006, has declared as illegal the setting up of the Umesh Chandra Banerjee committee. ^[2] Investigations are still ongoing.

Contents 1 Background 2 The train and its passengers 3 Reported altercation at the Godhra station 4 Attack on the train compartments 5 Fire in the train compartments 6 Investigations and controversies 6.1 Allegations of Planned Conspiracy 6.2 The Nanavati Panel 6.3 The Bannerjee Panel 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Background

Religious riots had erupted in the past at Godhra in 1965 and October 1980. The riots were curbed by the collector putting suspected Hindu and Muslim miscreants behind bars^{[citation needed]}. The army was called to curb disturbances in 1948, in 1953-55, and 1985.

[edit] The train and its passengers

The Sabarmati Express was carrying Kar Sevaks who were returning from a ceremony called Chetavani Yatra ("journey of warning"), convened by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, in order to mobilize all resources for construction of Ram Mandir (Temple) at a highly contentious site, Ram Janmabhoomi temple, in Ayodhya. Proceedings are under way in court to determine whether there was a Ram Temple on this spot prior to the sixteenth century, and what effect that has on the rights to the property.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Reported altercation at the Godhra station

There are reports of an altercation at the station. Local police officials and witnesses had commented that Hindu passengers in the trains would shout slogans about building a temple as the trains passed through the town and refused to pay for food at the stop, and as a result incited Muslims in the area during the week before the incident.^[3]

The Tribune reported ^[4]:

Eyewitnesses said the miscreants numbered about 500. They said that as soon as the train reached Godhra, some of the [Muslim] miscreants had attacked the [Hindu] passengers chanting religious songs inside the compartment. However, even after some passengers brought this to the notice of the policemen present on the platform, no action was taken, the eyewitnesses said.

The Hindu reported ^[5]

By now all narratives agree that a fracas broke out on the platform between aggressive [Hindu] Karsevaks and Muslim vendors. A Muslim girl was molested by them. Stones were thrown on the coach [by Muslims] and the [Hindu] Karsevaks also gathered stones to throw back. Worried that the situation might deteriorate, the station master sent the train off suddenly at 7.48 a.m.

[edit] Attack on the train compartments

The train was stopped and came under attack at Signal Fadia (sometimes misspelled as Signal Falia), near Godhra Junction, by a mob presumed to be Ghanchi Muslims^[6]. There were severe disturbances created due to altercations between the Hindu passengers and the Muslim mob, who reacted to religious slogans being screamed by the passengers and attacked the train.

CNN reported ^[7]

The train reached the station at Godhra at 8 a.m., more than five hours late. It soon pulled out of the station, but screeched to a halt. Patel, who was in the bathroom, heard rocks raining on the roof."I heard noises of people shouting outside: `Kill them! Cut them up!"' Patel said. He looked out and saw men with sticks attacking the train car. The train erupted in panic. Patel used his handkerchief to bandage a woman wounded by rock. Then a burning rag was thrown in the train. The passengers doused that fire with water, he said. Then someone poured a flammable liquid into the car, and a burning torch. Within minutes, the coach was full of smoke. Passengers were choking. Outside, the mob was trying to break open the doors, he said. Patel and two dozen others leaped out and began pulling others out. But dozens were already burned. Many died screaming.

Time reports ^[8] that as the engine gathered speed leaving Godhra, the emergency brake chain was pulled and the attackers stormed the passenger cars.

The Tribune reported ^[9]:

As the train left Godhra station, one of the miscreants who had boarded it, pulled the chain alarm after some time to halt the train a km away. It was here that a large number of stone-pelting miscreants set the coach ablaze by throwing petrol bombs and dousing it with kerosene and petrol.

The Hindu reported ^[10]

In fact, rail records submitted to the Banerjee Committee show that the chain had been pulled in four coaches (83101, 5343, 91238 and 88238). These were rectified but it is possible there was a fifth coach too which was not rectified. The record in the chargebook of the Assistant Station Master (ASM) shows that there was another coach requiring rectification.

Soon after the engine crossed Cabin `A' about a kilometre to the west of the station, the train came to a halt again. There is no written record of a chain pull or rectification or of an altered clappet valve or dangling hosepipe as per the police claim that one Anvar Kalandar stopped the train because the conspirators told him a Muslim girl had been kidnapped by the Karsevaks. It is possible that the unrectified fifth coach dragged the train to a halt.

[edit] Fire in the train compartments

In this Godhra Train Burning incident it got burnt either from outside or inside the train. Time reports ^[8] that the attackers hurled bottles filled with gasoline, setting coach S6 aflame resulting in the death of 58 passengers. Able-bodied men managed to escape the conflagration; 40 of the 58 deaths were of women and children charred on board.

[edit] Investigations and controversies

Initial investigations led a Special Investigation Team of the Gujarat police to conclude that the Godhra attack was a planned conspiracy, rather than a spontaneous reaction. Their findings were questioned by the defence lawyers of the accused, as well as the "Central review Committee on the Prevention of Terrorism Act". An Investigative panel led by Justice U C Banerjee claimed that the fire was an accident, not a deliberate act. The Gujarat high court has ruled their findings illegal.

[edit] Allegations of Planned Conspiracy

The events of the twenty-seventh day of February, 2002 are often reported as a huge mob of Muslims burnt the train (Sabarmati Express), knowing it contained pilgrims, monks and kar sevaks leaving for Ayodhya, after a scuffle among a few of the kar sevaks and sections of the mob. Later 58 people aboard the train, including 15 women and 20 children, all Hindus, died in a fire on board the recently departed train. The fire was blamed on Muslims leading to the 2002 Gujarat violence.

Initial investigations led to the suspicion that a planned conspiracy was behind the train burning, rather than a spontaneous reaction. In 2003, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Gujarat Police moved the sessions court in Godhra to invoke provisions of Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) against all 123 accused in the case, including seven who were out on bail. On February 6, 2003, Maulana Hussein Umarji a Muslim leader of the Deobandi sect of Islamic Fundamentalism in Godhra, was arrested. The police alleged that he was the prime conspirator in the Train burning. His arrest followed the confessional statement of Jabir Binyamin Behera, an accused who was arrested on January 22^[11][12].

Behera confessed that around 11.30 p.m. on the previous night, he was present on the ground floor of a guest house when other suspects arrived on a scooter and initiated the first meeting. Allegedly, the strategy was to launch an attack at the slightest provocation from the Kar Sevaks who were returning from Ayodhya. The same night, the conspirators collected 140 litres of fuel from a local petrol pump and stored it at a guest house. They also had instructions from Umarji, who had advanced information on the position of the Kar Sevaks on the Sabarmati Express and specifically told them to target Coach S6 of the train^[11][12].

The confession further went that a second meeting was held around midnight after which a co-conspirator named Paanwala allegedly left for the railway station to check on the train's arrival time. After learning that the train was late, they scrapped their original plan of a pre-dawn attack. In his confession Behera says it was Umarji who advised him against surrendering to the police. The investigators considered Umarji a "big catch" since the mob that burnt bogie S6 was mainly composed of people from the Ghanchi community, a majority of whom were followers of the Deobandi sect^[11].

It was also suggested that foreign Islamic terrorists were involved in the act thus necessitating the invocation of POTA^[11].

In September, the investigations changed track with the naming of Razzak Kurkur, a hotelier from the Muslim-dominated Signal Falia area, as an accused. It was then claimed that though a huge mob was involved in the attack, the actual train burning was the handiwork of a core team of 20^[11].

The defence lawyers of the accused argued against the theories of the SIT, alleging that the charge sheets did not mention that the accused were active participants in the burning, and that the confessions needed to be backed up by sufficient evidence^[11]. The SIT report has also been questioned for apparent inconsistencies, such as the speed at which the petrol fuel was delivered to the attack site, and the lack of witnesses. Previous attempts by the SIT to link the incident to foreign elements were unsupported by evidence. It was also advanced that many parts of the SIT's forensic report were based more on conjecture than proof^[13].

The Central Review Committee on POTA, which was set up to check possible misuses of the act, disagreed with the findings of the SIT. Their analysis indicated a lack of sufficient evidence to an alleged conspiracy^[14].

Frontline reports on Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Gujarat Police findings^[13]:

SIT called a press conference to reiterate its conspiracy theory. ..Rakesh Asthana, who heads the SIT. He maintains that the plan to torch the train was masterminded during meetings at the Aman Guest House, owned by Razak Kurkur, who allegedly heads a local criminal gang involved in railway crimes. ... the actual operation was conducted by six people, who cut open the vestibule and entered the coach, opened the doors of the compartment and poured 120 litres of petrol (each person supposedly carried a 20-litre jerry can) before jumping out. Then, burning rags were thrown into the compartments through the windows. The SIT's main evidence is a court confession by Zabir Bin Yameen Behra, one of those who allegedly entered coach S-6. Behra first gave details of how the plan was hatched. Later, he went back on the testimony, saying the police forced him to depose before the court.

[edit] The Nanavati Panel

The Gujarat Government, in consultation with Central Government appointed Justice Nanavati and Shah to investigate Godhra and post-Godhra incidents. This investigation is still ongoing.

[edit] The Bannerjee Panel

Two years after the incident Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav appointed Justice U C Banerjee to investigate Godhra incident. On the eve of election in Railway Minister's home state Bihar, Justice U C Banerjee released a report suggesting fire being an accident which resulted out of cooking being carried within the carriageand ruled out the possibility of fire having resulted out of any external attack.

These findings have been questioned by right-wing organisations, Sangh Parivar and Bharatiya Janata Party as being politically motivated, coinciding with the time of elections. The Gujarat High Court ruling declared Justice UC Banerjee Committee as "unconstitutional, illegal and void". ^[15].

In addition, survivors and relatives of those killed in the train attack have reacted with outrage at the conclusion saying this flies in the face of evidence that they were not allowed to leave the coach and burning rags were thrown inside by a mob that had gathered at the station. Some victims have also testified that the attackers, in order to ensure no one escaped, even closed the doors of the carriages. A court case was filed by survivors of the carnage against the committee.

Frontline reports on the Banerjee commission report^[13]:

The Banerjee committee ... rules out the possibility of any inflammable liquid being responsible for the fire, as there was first a smell of burning and then a smoke and flames, which would not be the case if inflammable fluid were used. "The inflammable liquid theory gets negated by the statement of some of the passengers who suffered injuries on the upper portion of the body and not the lower body and who crawled towards the door on elbows and could get out without much injury", says the Banerjee report. " ... "The committee has noted the forensic laboratory's experiment and verified its conclusion that it was impossible to set fire to the train from outside", Banerjee concluded. Eliminating the "petrol theory", the "miscreant theory" and the possibility of an electrical fire, the committee said that the burning was an "accidental fire". But it gave no reason why it could have been an "accidental fire".

As of October 13, 2006, the Gujarat High Court ruled formation of UC Banerjee committee "illegal" and "unconstitutional". As of now all its probe results stand invalid. The Central govt. can still appeal the High Court judgement in the Supreme Court^[16][17][18]. The Judiciary in India is independent of the state or national government. The order was pronounced by Justice BH Vaghela on a petition filed by a survivor of the carnage, Neelkanth Bhatia, who had challenged the setting up of Banerjee Committee. This establishes that the burning was either a planned or spontaneous carnage by the Muslim mob rather than an accident.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Godhra questions
• Sabarmati Express fire "accidental", Bannerjee Committee Findings
• Bannerjee Committee illegal, Gujarat HC
• Lalu panel calls Godhra an accident, what about flaming rags, ask victims
• BBC: Godhra suspect seeks bail for sex
• Final Solution
• Final Solution (Gujarat Riots)