Quote:More trouble is brewing for Mumbai-based social activist Teesta Setalvad. The city Crime Branch has registered an FIR against her after establishing that she hacked Rais Khan’s e-mail ID to fabricate affidavits filed on behalf of Gujarat riot victims.



Setalvad’s associate since the 2002 post-Godhra riots, Khan had complained to the Police Commissioner in September last year that she illegally used his ID after the two parted company following differences over the issue.



Khan was city-based coordinator of Citizens for Justice & Peace (CJP), which had nurtured the 2002 riot victims and survivors. He had fallen out with Setalvad nearly three years ago but decided to spill the beans only after there were allegations against him.



Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Himanshu Shukla told The Pioneer on Thursday that an FIR has been registered against Setalvad in the hacking case, after investigation confirmed the truth of the allegations.



Khan had complained about the hacking before the Nanavati-Mehta Commission too. In December last year, a designated Sessions Court ordered that criminal complaints be registered against Setalvad and others for the fabricated affidavits.

Quote:A fast track court in Godhra on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to human rights activist Teesta Setalvad, who is facing charges of exhuming bodies of 2002 riot victims, four years after they were buried. Setalvad’s NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), which is fighting a legal battle with t he Gujarat government for justice to the victims and survivors of the 2002 communal riots, had sought anticipatory bail, fearing she might be arrested by the Gujarat police.

...



Khan, who is no more associated with Setalvad, gave a statement before a magistrate stating that they had exhumed bodies at the behest of Setalvad. After that Setalvad filed an anticipatory bail plea at the Godhra court

Quote:A fast-track court in Ahmedabad convicted 31 accused and acquitted 63, including a prime accused Maulavi Umarji, on Tuesday for lack of evidence in the 2002 Godhra train-burning case. The court, however, imposed some conditions on the acquitted, asking them to furnish personal bonds of R10,000 each and sureties and not to leave the country without the court's permission.

Designated judge PR Patel also upheld that the incident was an “act of pre-planned conspiracy”. He conducted the trial from June 2009 to September 2010 and examined 255witnesses and the 19 chargesheets filed by the state police and would pass the sentence on February 25.



The verdict came almost nine years after 59 people, mostly kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya, were burnt to death by a mob on February 27, 2002 at Godhra station in central Gujarat.

...



“The motive of the conspiracy was to set the train on fire... The verdict is based on oral evidence and eyewitness accounts,” special public prosecutor JM Panchal said outside the court.



The verdict has vindicated the stand of the Gujarat government that the train burning incident was a[size="5"] "well hatched pre-planned conspiracy which was meant to kill kar sevaks to create communal tensions in the state."[/size]



"The judgment today nullifies all the wrong propaganda of the so-called NGOs that the Godhra train burning incident was not a conspiracy," Gujarat government spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas said.



The prosecution's case was based on the investigations by a special investigation team that had identified the 31 convicted people as a core team that planned the attack. The SIT report claimed that these 31 people held meetings, planned to target the train when it reached the station and burnt the coach.

Quote:A special court today sentenced 11 convicts to death and gave lifers to 20 people in the 2002 Godhra train burning incident that killed 59 people and triggered large scale communal violence in Gujarat. Designated judge P R Patel hearing the case inside the Sabarmati Central Jail pronounced the quantum of punishment to those who were found guilty of criminal conspiracy and murder.

The prosecution had sought death sentence for all the 31 convicts saying that it was a heinous act.



While the defence lawyers had pleaded leniency for the accused and requested the court to take into consideration their role during the incident, and considering their past record, family circumstances and time spent in jail since their arrest.

Quote:The court has ordered life imprisonment(upto 20 years) for 20 other culprits.



Those awarded death are:



Bilal Ismail Abdul Majid Sujela alias Haji Bilal

Abdul Razak Mohammad Kurkur

Ramzani Binyamin Behra

Hassan Ahmed Charkha alias Lalu

Jabir Biryamin Behra

Mehboob Khalid Chanda

Salim alias Salman Yusuf Sattar Jarda

Siraz Mohammad Abhul Maida alias Bala

Irfan Abdul Majid Ghanchi Kalandar alias Irfan Bhopo

Irfan Mohammad Hanif Abdul Gani Pataliya

Mehboob Ahmed Yusuf Hassan alias Latiko



http://haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=13355&SKIN=B

Quote:This will impress Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's fans and amuse his critics. He has announced he is going on a fast for three days from September 17 for "peace, unity and harmony" in Gujarat.



Modi sent out a letter on Tuesday saying the Supreme Court judgment in a 2002 riots case

had exonerated him and he planned a "Sadbhavana Mission" in the state to improve "brotherhood" in the state.



[size="5"]"One thing is apparent from the Supreme Court's judgment - the unhealthy environment created by the unfounded and false allegations made against me and Government of Gujarat, after 2002 riots, has come to an end. For the past ten years, it has become fashionable to defame me and the state of Gujarat... But one thing is certain that the credibility of those who have been spreading lies and defaming Gujarat has come to its lowest ebb,"[/size] he said in the letter.