Setting ablaze Sabarmati Express at Godhra station in Gujarat was an unforgettable incident. The verdict against the accused persons behind this incident is still pending. In this incident, 94 people, all Muslims, had stood trial on charges of murder and conspiracy. Today, Gujarat High Court has decided a set of appeals challenging convictions and acquittals in the case. The High Court today has refused to change previous verdict. Even the mastermind Maulvi Umarji was also acquitted.
Earlier, the verdict came on 1 March, 2011. In 2011, a special trail court acquitted 63 of them and convicted 31 of murder. Maulvi Umarji was alleged mastermind of the incident.
Godhra case
The case of the burning of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra in 2002 was one of the unpleasant incidents in history of India. This incident led massive communal riots across the state of Gujarat that claimed the lives of nearly 1,200 over two months.
This barbarous incident took place in February 2002. 59 Hindu devotees returning from Ayodhya, died after a coach of the Sabarmati Express was set on fire at the Godhra station. Godhra is a Municipality in Panchmahal district in Indian state of Gujarat which is around 130 km from Ahmedabad. This incident took place when the train was returning with passengers from the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya that had been demolished by lakhs of right-wing workers and volunteers in 1992.
Verdict
The bench of justice AS Dave and justice GR Udhaari refused to alter the acquittal order for 63 accused. Of the 31 convicts, 11 were sentenced to death and 20 were given life imprisonment. It also asked that the state government and the Railways failed miserably in maintaining law and order during the 2002 incident. The HC also directed the government and the Railways to pay Rs 10 lakh each to the families of those killed in the Godhra train burning incident.
