Godhra

[Guest]

One more thing.

Asthana carried out the fodder-scam investigations - Lalu might be out to discredit Asthana and eventually prove hime to be saffron or whatever. Worth considering ?

[Guest]

http://www.nhrc.nic.in/guj_annex_1.htm
From national human rights commision's website.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Two victims of Godhra incident met the team at Raj Bhawan Annexe on 20 March. 11 year old Gayatri, d/o Harshad Bhai, is the sole survivor of her family.  She said that her mother, father and two sisters died in the fire in compartment S/6 of Sabarmati Express.  She could manage to jump out to the safe side from the burning coach.  She said that the train was attacked by a crowd, which was 1500-2000 strong.  She added that the crowd was shouting ‘Get the girls out’.  Smt. Urmila Trivedi  who accompanied Gayatri said that she was travelling in coach S/5 and was injured in stone pelting. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


http://www.fisiusa.org/fisi_News_items/G...hra072.htm
Another source quoting the same eyewitness.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->On the 27th February, the Ahmedabad bound Sabarmati Express, carrying Karsevaks from Ayodhya was barbarously attacked and burnt at Godhra in which around 60 karsevaks laid their lives. Gayatri Panchal a young eleventh class student was also amongst those who were returning from Ayodhya. She is a surviving witness to the inhuman atrocious cruelty in which right in front of her eyes two of her sisters and parents were burnt alive.

Harshadbhai Panchal, a resident of Ramol, left for karseva at Ayodhya on the 22nd February, together with his wife Neetaben and three daughters, Pratiksha, Chhaya and Gayatri. His sister in law, her son, her neighbour Poojaben and her would be husband were also accompanying him.

All of them were returning to Ahmedabad along with several other karsevaks. Harshadbhai and his family, Poojaben and her husband were in one compartment. While his sister in law and her husband and their son were in another compartment. The only survivor out of these ten, Gayatri, says about this horrible event that, on the 27th morning, at around 8 a.m. the train left Godhra Station. The karsevaks were loudly chanting the Ram Dhoon. The train had hardly gone ½ Km., when it suddenly stopped. Somebody had perhaps pulled the chain to stop the train. Before anybody could know what had happened, we saw a huge mob approaching the train. People were carrying weapons like Gupti, Sphere, Swords and such other deadly weapons in their hands and were throwing stones at the train. We all got frightened and some how closed the windows and the doors of the compartment. People outside were shouting loudly, saying “Maro, Kato” and were attacking the train. A loudspeaker from the Masjid close by was also very loudly shouting<b> “Maro, Kato, Laden na dushmano ne Maro.”</b> These attackers were so fierce that they managed to break the windows and close the doors from outside before pouring petrol inside and setting the compartment on fire so that nobody could escape alive. A number of attackers entered the compartment and were beating the karsevaks and looting their belongings. The compartments were drenched in petrol all over. We were terrified and were shouting for help but who was there to help us? A few policemen were later seen approaching the compartment but they were also whisked away by the furious mob outside. There was so much of smoke in the compartment that we were unable to see each other and also getting suffocated. Going out was too difficult, however myself and Pooja some how managed to jump out through the windows. Pooja was hurt in her back and was unable to stand up. People outside were trying to hold us to take us away but we could escape and run under the burning train and succeeded in crawling towards the cabin. I have seen my parents and sisters being burnt alive right in front of my eyes. Luckily, by the grace of God, Gayatri was not hurt too badly. We somehow managed to go up to the station and meet our aunty (Masi). After the compartments were completely burnt the crowd started withering. We saw that even amongst them were men, women and youngsters like us both male as well as female. I returned here after evacuating the dead bodies of my family members at Godhra Station. Out of 18 of us ten had laid their lives.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/sout...at.survivor.ap/
Another eyewitness account and this does not look like an upper body wound.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"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.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<img src='http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/south/02/27/gujarat.survivor.ap/vstory.scars.ap.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

[Guest]

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:yGo4u...&hl=en&start=54
Another eyewitness account stating somebody throwing in a burning rag.The indian express site is down so I am posting the link to google cache.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> AHMEDABAD, DECEMBER 24: A bearded youth with a cap ‘‘who looked like a Muslim’’ threw a burning rag into the S-6 carriage of the Sabarmati Express, a survivor of the February 27 Godhra carnage told the inquiry commission today.

Poonam Tiwari of Ahmedabad, who was a passenger, told the panel that her father-in-law stamped out the burning rag with his shoes. But soon, the rear of the carriage was burning.

Tiwari said she ran to the front door, carrying her one-year-old son Ashish. Amid the jostling, she got out with someone’s help, while another person handed down her child. Her mother-in-law’s charred body was later identified by her anklets, the father-in-law’s by his dentures.

Advertisement

Tiwari said the train pulled out of the station and came to a halt about half a kilometre away. Then the stone-throwing started, she said. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

http://ww1.mid-day.com/News/City/2002/March/21478.htm
Another survivor.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Gyanprakash recalls the horror: “The train had just left Godhra but stopped a little way away from the station. Suddenly, stones were being thrown at the train. The pelting continued for almost an hour. Then something was hurled into our coach and there was smoke everywhere. It was so suffocating I could hardly breathe. I heard my father telling me to get off the train. I went to the door but saw that <b>people trying to get off fromwere being stabbed</b>. I went to the other side and jumped off. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030302/asp/...ory_1714045.asp

Survivors account.His statement corroborates Gayatri's statement from the post above who also escaped from a window must have been the same window.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->He remembers the stones, the petrol-soaked burning rags and the swords.

The passengers out on the platform had scrambled in and pulled down window shutters and shot the bolt on the door. The train moved, but within moments it came to a halt. Hari Prasad said it appeared as if someone had pulled the emergency chain.

Then he saw burning rags flying in through the only window that was left open. Within minutes, smoke was swirling inside the compartment and his fellow passengers were gasping.

“No one could have survived the noxious fumes from the burning plastic and foam,’’ Hari Prasad says. “I saw my wife struggling to breathe. But at that moment, the only thing on my mind was how to escape.”

Hari Prasad did escape but a year later, he hasn’t escaped the after-effects. After vomiting reddish-black soot for almost eight days then, he now suffers from convulsive fits.

“I held my breath for as long as I could,” Hari Prasad says. “After what seemed like an eternity, I saw an open window. The grill had been smashed. I crawled out. My wife had already died.’’<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=274014
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Train could have been torched by 60 litres of petrol: DFS
AHMEDABAD, JAN 17 (PTI)

Casting a doubt on the Banerjee Committee's report on Godhra train carnage, that has said the train blaze was an `accidental fire', a senior official of the state Directorate of Forensic Sciences (DFS) today said approximately "60 litres of petrol" could have been used to torch the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express train.

Reacting to the U C Banerjee interim report, the official told PTI that "the DFS has done its job scientifically and thoroughly. Moreover, it is important to know the grounds of the technical observations made by the Commission".

Casting a doubt on the Commission's prompt report, the official said "is it possble to make all this finding in just two or three months?....How can there be any fire without any source?" "The detailed report of the Banerjee Commission will have to be studied thoroughly before saying anything more on their observations", the official said.

Months after the train carnage, the Gujarat government had given the DFS the task of reconstructing the carnage inside the train and they had simulated the incident using water in place of inflameables and had come to the conclusion that approximately 60 litres of petrol could have been used to torch the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

Justice Bannerjee Report: who is fooling whom?

[Guest]

Posting in full the text of M V Kamath's column (link by rajesh_g) as he raises some interesting questions:

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Justice Bannerjee Report: who is fooling whom?

By M V Kamath

In all of India’s last one hundred years of history it would be difficult to find a more loathsome character than Bihar’s tainted political leader, Lalu Prasad Yadav. Over the months he has shown himself to be utterly unprincipled. There have been several charges against him, not the least the fodder scan amounting to over 1,000 crore of rupees. He has had to give up his Chief Ministership. So what does he do? He names his own wife as his successor, thus exercising power without responsibility. Such a thing is unheard of in the history of any country, but in India, and especially in Bihar, it is par for the course.

And so, when he appointed “a fact-finding” committee to conduct inquiries into the Godhra incident that took place almost three years ago, to be exact on 27 February 2002, the presumption was that the Committee would make every effort to implicate the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.

What, in effect, Lalu Prasad Yadav had done to appoint a lawyer to argue the point that the Godhra incident was not a pre-planned one, but just an <b>incident that could have happened anywhere and it was strictly coincidental that it happened in Godhra, one of the worst communalised urban areas in India. Strictly coincidental? </b>

Why couldn’t the fire in two coaches of the Sabarmati Express have flared a few stations prior to Godhra or a couple of stations after Godhra?[/B] <b>What were thousands of Muslims who had gathered around the Express doing? Had they, by any chance, any premonition of what was likely to happen right in their presence? </b>

The Bannerjee Committee apparently had no time to inquire into these things. For one thing, the Committee sounds more like counsel for the prosecution, the prosecutor being Lalu Prasad Yadav himself. Indeed, the day he announced the appointment of the Committee it was a foregone conclusion that its findings would serve to nail Narendra Modi and the BJP to the cross. In the circumstances its findings come as no surprise.

Indeed it would have been surprising if the Committee had discovered a terrorist conspiracy to set a couple of Express bogies on fire. <b>The Committee had no time to interrogate the Special State Inspector General of Police, Vadodara Range, Rakesh Asthana who has been investigating the Godhra Carnage. </b>

The Bannerjee Committee, it seems,<b> has not even bothered to examine experts from the State Forensic Laboratory who have been collecting evidence from the scene of the crime.</b> True, it has allegedly drafted a Report that is over 1,000 pages long. That Report has yet to be made public. But the <b>Committee, which was to submit its report some time in March or April thought it proper to release a summary of it in the third week of January. What was the hurry? </b>Why couldn’t the Committee have waited for the appointed time?

The answer, it turns out, lies in the Assembly elections in Bihar due soon. It seems clear that Lalu Prasad Yadav wanted to use the “findings” if that is the right word to win Muslim votes in his State. Bannerjee thus acted not independently, but as Lalu Prasad Yadav’s lawyer. He stands exposed. In Bihar, Yadavs the community to which Lalu Prasad belongs constitute 19 per cent of the population, the most Backward Castes 15 per cent and Muslims 13 per cent. Lalu Prasad has the full backing of the Yadavs and no wonder.

For all the nauseating talk of secularism, politics in Bihar is strictly castebased. Lalufurther also has the support of the most Backward Castes. The Muslim vote around 13 per cent is, in the circumstances, crucial. If Lalu Prasad can capture those 13 per cent votes, his partly is in. That will explain why the Bannerjee Committee Report was revealed in advance.

That Bannerjee showed that in this regard he was playing the Railway Minister’s game does not reflect highly on his sense of rectitude. By going public with his interim `findings’ Bannerjee has not exactly enhanced his reputation. He has acted more like Lalu Prasad’s counsel than as an independent judge. More so the pity.

Bannerjee has further shown where his sympathies lie by criticising Nitish Kumar, another Bihari, and the Railway Minister when the Godhra carnage took place. There was no need for Bannerjee to attack Nitish Kumar but this he has done by pointing out that “neither the then Railway Minister (Nitish Kumar) nor the members of the Railway Board visited the site of the accident or the injured passengers”.

Not only this, the Interim Report has taken a special note of the failure of the Commission of Railway Safety and the Railway Administration to conduct a statutory probe into the fire incident, which was a breach of the Railway Act as well as the Accident Mannual of the Zonal Railway. This is playing politics with a vengeance.

May it be said here that it is in the same class as Lalu Prasad Yadav’s absence from Parliament following a terrible railway accident in the north west that resulted in the death of several passengers? It is against this background that one must note the findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the matter of the Godhra train carnage.

According to Rakesh Asthana, the Special State Inspector General of Police, who is heading SIT, “there is scientific and oral evidence” to clearly establish that Godhra incident was a “carefully planned and meticulously executed criminal conspiracy”. His deputy in the SIT, Noel Parmar, who is a deputy Superintendent of Police, in deposing before the judicial inquiry commission led by Justice G. T. Nanavati and including Justice K. G. Shah, has given evidence on similar lines.

According to Parmar, the train carnage was not only a “pre-planned conspiracy” but is the suspected work of a terrorist organisation. We now learn that the SIT investigation has found that some people entered the coach `forcibly’ through the vestibule connecting the S-6 and S-7 coaches, poured petrol and jumped out through the rear door, after which burning rags were thrown inside through broken windows to ignite the fire.

BJP spokesmen who apparently are aware of the 1,000 page long Interim Report has many questions to ask in this regard. On 17 January, Jaitley, spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party hit out powerfully at the Bannerjee Report poohpoohing it as having no ‘legal basis’. And he fired ten posers at Mr Bannerjee. Thus, he asked:

<b>

• 
  
  </li>
• Did you consider the evidence that two meetings took place on the night of 26 February 2002 at the Aman Guest House (close to Godhra station) where the conspiracy to set fire to Bogie No. S-6 of the Saharmati Express was hatched?
  
  
  
• Did you consider the evidence that one of the conspirators, Salim Badam was verifying the movement of the Sabarmati Express at 1.30 a.m. on 27 February 2002 from the Godhra Railway Station? Since the train was running four hours late, the conspirators re-assembled at the Aman Gust House at 6.00 a.m.
  
  
  
• Did you consider the evidence that 140 litres of petrol was purchased from a nearby petrol pump on the night of 26 February 2002 and kept at Aman Gust House itself?
  
  
  
• Did you consider the evidence that chain pulling was simultaneously executed from various compartments to get the train stopped so that the mob at the platform could indulge in stone-throwing?
  
  
  
• Did you consider that evidence of workers who have deposed about the transportation of petrol from the Aman Guest House to the Station?
  
  
  
• Did you consider the evidence that the conspirators entered Bogie No. S-7 and cut open the vestibule cord between S-6 and S-7?
  
  
  
• Did you consider the fact that burning rags were thrown into Bogie No. S-6?
  
  
  
• Do you realise that the ‘accident theory’ was propounded by the accused in the case and repeated by Lalu Prasad Yadav? You have merely stamped the `Laloo Theory’.
  
  
  
• Do you accept that a committee appointed by the Railways cannot go into the issue of `conspiracy’? Policing is a state subject and prevention and detection of crime on Railways is the constitutional responsibility of the State Government.
  
  
  
• Did you not realise that your report is an `extra-constitutional’ interference in the administration of justice since the trial is pending before the Court?
  
  
  

</b>

There were many other questions that put Justice Bannerjee squarely on the mat. It was pointed out to him that what he has done is to act as the defence of the culprits when no one had asked him to do so. <b>He was asked why he had accepted to head a departmental inquiry on a matter where a criminal trial and a Commission of Inquiry are already pending. He was further asked why he preferred to address a press conference to release his Interim Report when a judge only submits his report and it is up to the government to release it. </b>

The BJP also wanted to know <b>how come Lalu Prasad got a copy of the Report in advance, considering that he also released it simultaneously from his residence in Patna?</b> These are all important questions which Bannerjee will have to answer. What comes as a shock is that any responsible judge will accept the leadership of a Committee appointed by LaluPrasad Yadav to inquire into a matter on which the Minister’s views are only too well-known!

Even as the Report was being released came the news that Lalu Prasad was severely reprimanded by the Election Commission, for breaking the moral code of conduct just prior to the Assembly elections. He has been let off much too easily. What are we coming to? Who is fooling whom?

<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-Viren+Feb 2 2005, 02:33 PM-->QUOTE(Viren @ Feb 2 2005, 02:33 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> According to Rakesh Asthana, the Special State Inspector General of Police, who is heading SIT, “there is scientific and oral evidence” to clearly establish that Godhra incident was a “carefully planned and meticulously executed criminal conspiracy”. His deputy in the SIT, Noel Parmar, who is a deputy Superintendent of Police, in deposing before the judicial inquiry commission led by Justice G. T. Nanavati and including Justice K. G. Shah, has given evidence on similar lines.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Note on Rakesh Asthana ....
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Then, last April, a new team headed by Rakesh Asthana, deputy inspector general of the crime branch, criminal investigation department, joined the investigation. Asthana is a low-profile police officer with a reputation for having cracked some big cases such as the <span style='color:red'><b>fodder scandal that implicated former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav</b> </span>and the Purulia arms drop case in West Bengal<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Godhra and Kashmir connection

[Guest]

From July 04 Laloo is off track, Godhra forensics report wasn’t buried
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Angry with Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav’s decision to order a fresh probe into the Godhra carnage, the Opposition today stalled work in both Houses of Parliament, demanding that the Prime Minister clarify and stop the ‘‘conspiracy’’ to divide people on communal lines.

<b>Whatever Laloo Prasad Yadav might say now, the truth is that the May 17, 2002 report of Ahmedabad’s Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) is no secret. Five days after it was submitted to the special investigation team (SIT), the report was made public and also appended to the first chargesheet filed in the Godhra case</b>

The report was based on a reconstruction of the burning of the S-6 coach. It was carried out by forensic experts at the exact spot where S-6 was burnt. And it took the SIT by surprise.

Until then, the SIT had assumed that the coach had been set on fire from outside. But the report said it was impossible for anyone outside to throw in inflammable liquid and set the coach ablaze.

So the team started looking for what it calls a ‘‘core group’’ of attackers who may have entered the coach, poured fuel inside and set it ablaze.

‘‘In the initial stages, it was believed the coach was set on fire from outside. Because that’s what the accused told us. While we were investigating, the forensic report came in. Investigations were conducted accordingly,’’ said Director General of Police A K Bhargav, who was the SIT supervising officer when it was created.

‘‘We didn’t know that such a group existed, one which entered the carriage and set it on fire. Those we arrested gave us a different story.’’

During reconstruction, the forensic team stood outside and tried to throw water from different kinds of containers into the coach. But at seven feet, the doors and windows of the coach were too high for the water to reach.

Even when team members stood on a three-foot heap of broken stone ballast meant for tracks — the highest spot in the vicinity — only 10-15 per cent of the water entered the coach.

<b>After the reconstruction, the team concluded that some 60 litres of highly inflammable liquid had been poured inside the coach from a point near seat 72 and set on fire immediately. </b>

An SIT member recalled that the forensic report came in just when they had hit a roadblock.

‘‘If it were not for the report, we would have been hard pressed to prove the charges against the suspects,’’ he said. ‘‘Though we had arrested the ones who set the coach on fire, we were unable to say how exactly they did it.’’

This hitch faced by the team is reflected in the chargesheets. The first chargesheet says little about how the fire was started, only mentioning that ‘‘...they (the accused) attacked the passengers and the coaches of Sabarmati Express with stones and set on fire coach S-6 by putting inflammable liquid like petrol and as a result 59 passengers were burnt alive.’’

A month after the report, the SIT said it had identified the ‘‘core team’’ of 20 which entered the S-6 coach by cutting open a vestibule. This is mentioned in its successive chargesheet.

At least 12 members of this ‘‘core team’’ are yet to be arrested. Eighty one people arrested so far are in Sabarmati Central Jail.

For now, the case has been stayed by the Supreme Court on a plea to transfer it outside Gujarat.



<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

From :http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040102/main4.htm
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Experts feel that the scientific interrogation is more accurate than other tests. Even when officials were probing the Godhra carnage, the Narendra Modi government was unhappy with them. <b>The experts later performed the truth-serum test on five suspects, who disclosed how they entered the train by tearing open the vestibule and torched the train</b>. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

I dont know how strong the truth serum evidence is. I have read reports regarding human rights violations with regard to the truth serum tests. Anyway, the other thing i have read in some reports is that it is not easy to tear open the vestibule. I am not clear as to which kind of vestibule is being talked about. I think the one on S-6 was made of some kind of rubber but the other one (that was burned and replaced) on S-7 was canvas ? This point is not completely clear. So if keep an eye out for this too..

[Guest]

Is this guy Bilal Haji still in custody? And why did he prevent fire dept officials from reaching the scene of 'accident'?
Link 1

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NDTV has learnt that Bilal Haji owned four passports under different names. Local fire officials say that Bilal Haji prevented them from reaching the scene of the Sabarmati train mayhem on time.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Link 2
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->He had also raised obstacles and prevented fire brigade from reaching near the burning train due to which 58 passengers mostly women and children were charred to death. Soon after the incident Haji Bilal absconded and a massive manhunt was launched to arrest him.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

Rajesh (or anyone): Was this report by Congress in Gujarat ever published?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Congress leadership in Gandhinagar has also prepared a report that claims the <b>incident was provoked by kar sevaks who were shouting slogans from Ratnam to Godhra</b>. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Link

[Guest]

[ CITIZEN'S LETTER TO INDIA'S PRIME MINISTER SEEKING RELEASE OF PEOPLE BEING UNFAIRLY HELD ON CHARGES OF ORGANISING THE GODHRA TRAIN FIRE
URL: www.sacw.net/Gujarat2002/lettertoPM012005.html ]

o o o
Released by Shabnam Hashmi (ANHAD)

Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India
South Block
New Delhi-110001

January 28,2005

Dear Dr. Singh,

Justice U.C.Bannerjee's interim report on Godhra train burning confirms that there was no conspiracy by the local Muslims to burn the train. One recalls this conspiracy theory, manufactured by Narendra Modi, was used as a pretext to launch the Anti Muslim pogrom in Gujarat. <b>Mr. Modi came up with this thesis based on his political calculations and Sangh combine launched itself into the massacre of over two thousand innocents</b>. Interestingly Mr. Modi concocted this conclusion out of his hat in barely half hours time, and despite the Collector of Godhra pointing out to the contrary, <b>Modi asserted that it was a pre-planned conspiracy by Muslims. He decided to take the bodies to rouse the communal passions and rest is the horrifying history, which hopefully should never ever be
permitted to repeat itself.</b>

Mass hysteria was generated on the ground that Hindus have to take revenge of the killing of Kar Sevaks by Muslims. Mr. Haren Pandya, who was later killed, told the citizens tribunal about the state officials being told to sit back when the Hindus will be taking revenge of Godhra killings. Mr. Vajpayee the then prime minister while shedding the crocodile tears also went on to justify the carnage by stating, "but who lit the fire?" The Citizens tribunal with eminent judges and social workers after painstaking investigation concluded that it might have been an accident and that there was no evidence of the conspiracy by Muslim groups. Also despite the lapse of over two and a half years no evidence has been produced and no definitive accused located who was part of this massive conspiracy, since it was not one.

<b>Irrespective of these logical points, the propaganda mill of RSS family asserted this motivated falsehood in an aggressive manner and large section of civil society was made to believe that Muslims burnt the train. </b>The state Government arrested over two hundred Muslims under draconian POTA act on the charge of being part of the conspiracy to burn the train. Surprisingly despite the provisions of Railway act the train accident was never investigated by the compliant rail minister, Neetish Kumar in an effort to appease his BJP allies, and failed in his duties and obligations by not investigating the horrific train accident. <b>The simple facts pointing to the conclusion that it might have been an accident were put under the carpet. We as a nation have a lot to learn from the antics of RSS family.</b>

<b>Over two hundred innocent Muslims who have been rotting for 'burning the train' need our attention immediately. </b>We demand that all those who have been put behind the bars on the charge of burning the train be immediately released and suitably compensated for the torture and humiliation, which they have suffered during this long period. <b>It is also urgent to attempt to formulate provisions so that the likes of Modis cannot usurp the due process of law to pursue their divisive politics.</b>

Sincerely yours

1. Aditya Mukherjee
2. AD Golandaz
3. Ali Asghar-COVA
4. Amit Sengupta-Editor,Commentary & Analysis,Tehelka
5. Ammu Abraham
6. Anand Patwardhan
7. Anil Chowdhary
8. Anish Mokshi-IIT Mumbai
9. Anu Chenoy
10. Anu Fern
11. Apoorvanand
12. Arjun Dev
13. Asghar Ali Engineer
14. Cletus Zuzarte
15. Digant Oza
16. Dolphy D'souza
17. Dr Ram Puniyani
18. Farha Naqvi
19. Fr.Cedric Prakash
20. G N Devy
21. Gauhar Raza
22. Gita Hariharan
23. Harsh Kapoor
24. Harsh Mander
25. Humra Qureshi
26. I.K.Shukla
27. Indu Prakash Singh
28. J G Krishnayya
29. J. Sri Raman- journalist and Convener, Movement for People's
Unity, Chennai
30. John Dayal
31. Kamla Bhasin
32. Kamal Mitra Chenoy
33. KM Shrimali
34. KN Panikkar
35. Ra Ravishankar-University of Illinois (Urbana)
36. Malika Sarabhai
37. Manorma Dewan
38. Mansi Sharma
39. Mukul Dube
40. Mukundan C. Menon, CHRO, Keralam
41. Nalini Taneja
42. Nandita Das
43. NFIW
44. Poornima Joshi
45. Pralay Kanungo
46. Prashant Bhushan
47. Purshottam Agrawal
48. PVS Kumar
49. Rahul Roy
50. Rizwan Qaiser
51. Saba Dewan
52. Sandeep Vaidya
53. S.Irfan Habib
54. Shabi Farooq-San Francisco
55. Shabnam Hashmi
56. Shalini Gera
57. Sheelu-Tamilnadu Women's Collective
58. Shishir Kr. Jha
59. Shivali Tukdeo-Urbana, IL àUSA
60. Smita Shah
61. Shubha Mudgal
62. Shweta
63. Shyam Benegal.
64. SM Shahed
65. Sohail Hashmi
66. Stalin
67. Sukla Sen-Ekta (Committee for Communal Amity)
68. Suma Josson
69. Swami Agnivesh
70. Tarun J Tejpal
71. Vincent-NCDHR
72. V Ramchandran
73. Virendre Prakash
74. Zakia Zowher
75. Zoya Hasan

Copy to Mr. Shivraj Patil Home Minster, Govt. of India

[arindam]

Interesting to see that #66 in the list of signatures is "Stalin" - perhaps a follower of one of the worst mass-murderers in history.

I think the following list of issues need to be debunked:
- "no hydrocarbon" theory
- inpdependence of Hazards Center
- "Girl was molested at station" theory
- Chain was pulled by Kar Sevak - so what?
- "Pattern of burn patterns" prove XYZ

any other thoughts?

[utepian]

The list is a who's who of you know who.

[Guest]

I'm wondering why the FOILers like Vinay Lal, Biju Matthew, A Raman etc..who cashed in on this tragedy have not signed the petition. Could the stellar work in exposing these charlatans by that geocities charcha site have something to do with it?

Did someone tell these petitioners that there's still two commissions investigating this. Of course, not that will deter them.

Let's go through some usual suspects in the list..

6. Anand Patwardhan

Guy who's made a career with documentaries dissing Hindusim

13. Asghar Ali Engineer

The guy who's never found a riot in India that can't be pinned down to "Hindutvadis"

17. Dr Ram Puniyani

Yet another opportunity to boondongle in DC or Chicago - this time discuss this Banerjee report and this petiton

19. Fr.Cedric Prakash

Good chances that he'll accompany Dr PUniyani

23. Harsh Kapoor

French SACW website which colaborated with FOILers. Why did the site go down

24. Harsh Mander

Ex-IAS officer who resigned after Godhara riots and supposed to be the source of that fetous story. Debunked by the police and autospy reports produced before commission.

30. John Dayal

Isn't he cheif of Soul harvesters and winner of the Tippu Sultan award

34. KN Panikkar

Every interesting character - he deserves his own thread or maybe a website dedicated to him and his colleuges (Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, Jha)
Start with reading Shourie's After Selling Himself in the Flesh Market

35. Ra Ravishankar-University of Illinois (Urbana)

Needs no introduction, new mouthpiece of the CSFH camp.

36. Malika Sarabhai

The lady who was too young to remember Delhi riots but can go back couple thousand years to Hindu caste issues

53. S.Irfan Habib

The ICHR chairman(?), Padma Shree winner for toxify/detoxify history books champ.

66. Stalin

DMK head honcho's son?

[Guest]

Apologies if it's been posted before.
The truth about Godhra?

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->This past Saturday, 75 members of India’s intelligentsia
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ra Ravishankar is now promoted to member of India's intelligentsia <!--emo&:lol:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->
sorry please continue...
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->wrote a letter to the prime minister. Under the aegis of Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD), they demanded the immediate release of those arrested by the Gujarat police for allegedly setting fire to coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra station on February 27, 2002.

<b>Besides the freeing of ‘‘200 Muslims’’ — in reality, the police initially arrested 105 people, of whom 75 are still in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central Jail — ANHAD’s adherents demanded ‘‘compensation for the torture and humiliation’’ the accused had suffered. </b>

The letter was inspired by the Justice U.C. Banerjee Committee interim report, which has decided that the Godhra fire was an accident. As such, the letter-writers concluded, the whole conspiracy was ‘‘manufactured’’ and, actually, no crime was committed at all.

What began as farce is now threatening to get downright dangerous. When Justice Banerjee was appointed by Railway Minister Laloo Yadav to look into the Godhra incident, the buzz in Delhi was clear: one, the report will be out just before the Bihar election; two, it will probably say the kar sevaks committed suicide. In the event, Justice Banerjee stopped short at calling it an accidental fire.

The strange thing is, scarcely anybody in the political class is taking this report seriously. After all, if it were established that a state government and its police had fabricated a criminal case, passed off mishap as murder, framed over 100 people and lied, as they say in India, from top to bottom, alpha to omega, the Union government would be duty-bound to dismiss it.

Yet nobody in the Congress is even suggesting using Article 356 and removing Narendra Modi from the chief ministry. There is fear of political backlash, of course; more than that, there is recognition the Banerjee report is bunkum.

Justice Banerjee seems to have convinced only Laloo and his pet hangers-on. The railway minister has emerged as, in the words of a gushing magazine article, ‘‘the king of secularism’’: ‘‘The report’s release has come as a bit of a breather for Muslims across the country. The overwhelming sentiment is that a huge taint has been removed.’’

Are such sentiments grounded in reality? As a political card, Godhra is dead. It is unlikely that either Hindus or Muslims can be electorally mobilised on this issue. Neither can Godhra be used to justify the riots that followed. Whatever its imperfections and built-in delays, the criminal justice system needs to punish those responsible for the violence that followed February 27, 2002.

None of this, however, takes away from the horror of what happened at Godhra that dark morning. <b>Justice Banerjee pretends the crime did not take place. He creates a myth and then presents it as evidence of truth. He says there was no mob attack on coach S-6, ignoring eyewitness accounts of 1,000 people with stones and Molotov cocktails. </b>

<b>He ignores the Railway Protection Force firing at the time — firing in the air, to disperse rather than wound. He ignores the testimony of the RPF commandant who arrived after S-6 was set ablaze and ordered his men to fire at a mob that launched a second attack at about noon. Can Justice Banerjee account for these bullets? </b>

<b>He ignores the 15 arrests made at the station itself, 14 of those arrested are still in prison. He ignores reports of an attempt to set fire to coach S-2, also crowded with Hindu activists. Does he believe coach S-2 too saw an accidental fire, occurring simultaneously in some cosmic coincidence? </b>

Like his conclusions, Justice Banerjee’s methods are also questionable. On November 9, 2004, after a visit to Godhra, he landed up unannounced at Gandhinagar railway station. Railway officials seemed to know about his arrival. The state government was not told.

Justice Banerjee now inspected coach S-3 of the Gandhinagar-Indore Shanti Express, which had caught fire on November 1. This seems an accident, he said, and wondered if ‘‘parallels could be drawn’’ with Godhra.

In the next month, three reports — by the Gujarat forensic lab, by the local rail authorities, by a Western Railway team from Mumbai — established the Shanti Express fire was sabotage, traces of hydrocarbons/petrol were found. Yet, as The Indian Express reported on January 21, Justice Banerjee never saw these reports. He went by his earlier hunch; or by his preconceived notions.

On the basis of his kangaroo court-type findings, is India willing to release those accused of cold-blooded murder? The precedent this will set is too risky to even contemplate.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->