02-23-2011, 01:46 AM
[url="http://www.hindustantimes.com/31-convicted-63-walk-free-in-Godhra-case/H1-Article1-665337.aspx"]31 convicted, 63 walk free in Godhra case[/url]
It means Godhra was not a mass suicide case as called my Indian media.
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 ââ¬Åact of pre-planned conspiracyââ¬Â. 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.
...
ââ¬ÅThe motive of the conspiracy was to set the train on fire... The verdict is based on oral evidence and eyewitness accounts,ââ¬Â 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.
It means Godhra was not a mass suicide case as called my Indian media.