Key accused let off in Godhra case

Fast track court convicts 31 people in the 2002 pogrom, Gujarat government hails the verdict as it 'vindicated' their arson theory

Key accused let off in Godhra case

Fast track court convicts 31 people in the 2002 pogrom, Gujarat government hails the verdict as it 'vindicated' their arson theory

The sentence will be pronounced on Friday.

The acquitted being escorted from Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad

Additional Sessions Judge P R Patel delivered the verdict in the highly guarded complex of the Sabarmati Central Jail where the accused were lodged after the Feb 22, 2002 burning of a passenger coach of the train near the Godhra railway station.

Almost all those who died were Hindu activists returning from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. After 20 months of trial, they were held guilty of, among other things, murder, dacoity and robbery, arson and causing grievous hurt.

The court let off 63 others, including Maulvi Saeed Umarji, dubbed the prime accused. Many had rotted for years in prison pleading they were innocent.

His son Saeed Umarji said the judgment had strengthened his faith in the judiciary. "(But) the way he was kept in jail for eight years, it was a big injustice."

Within hours, all 63 walked out of the prison, some looking visibly relieved. Some looked grim. They boarded two buses to be driven to Godhra, 160 km away, accompanied by policemen.

Gujarat's BJP government hailed the verdict. "We have all along maintained that the fire in the coach was not accidental but a pre-planned conspiracy.
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Now an impartial judicial process has confirmed our point of view," said Jainarayan Vyas, Gujarat's tourism minister and the government's official spokesperson.

J.M. Panchal, the special public prosecutor, said clinching evidence for the conviction came from Gandhinagar's Forensic Science Laboratory report, witnesses and circumstantial evidence.

Defence lawyer A A Hassan said the court had accepted the theory that arsonists entered the coach by cutting the vestibule, poured petrol inside and set it on fire.

Many were unhappy with the verdict.

Activist lawyer Mukul Sinha said the ill-feeling generated among Muslims would continue because the judgment takes cognisance of the conspiracy theory without any evidence of it.

"Moreover, if 63 are innocent, how can others from the same crowd be conspirators?," the lawyer added.

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