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WHAT HAPPENED IN GUJARAT? THE FACTS:The Burning of the Sabarmati Express: 27th February 2002The kar sevaks had been going to Ayodhya since early February to participate in the construction of thecontroversial Ram temple at the site of the Babri Masjid. Various BJP MLAs (member of legislative assembly)had been arranging for tickets for the kar sevaks from the special quota allotted to them; many kar sevaks werealso traveling ticketless. One of the trains on this route was the Sabarmati Express.The Sabarmati Express departed from Muzaffarpur (in the state of Uttar Pradesh) on 25th February at 7:00 am,and was scheduled to reach Ahmedabad in Gujarat at 7:15 am on 27th February. In the early hours of 27thFebruary, it was moving as per its original route, although running more than four hours late. On 25th afternoonit had passed the city of Faizabad (a station close to Ayodhya) at around 5:30 pm, from where an estimated1,700 kar sevaks had boarded the train and occupied bogies number S-5 and S-6.According to passengers, the kar sevaks were armed with trishuls and behaving like hooligans; many weredrunk too. Most of them were traveling without tickets, and created a nuisance by making some of thepassengers with reservations/ tickets of the S-6 bogie sleep on the floor. In fact the coach was so crowded thatthe ticket collector who tried to board the bogey later at Ratlam station was not able to enter. Eyewitness reportssay that the kar sevaks moved about in the bogies dancing and shouting chants such as "wipe out everyMuslim". They also beat up Muslim passengers and insisted that they chant Jai Shri Ram, and allegedlyunveiled Muslim women on the train. New of this had spread such that Muslim women who caught the train toAhmedabad that evening had been advised by relatives not to wear burqas. It is claimed that the train guardphoned his superiors from Meghnagar that kar sevaks were carrying explosive material in bogie S-6.The train reached Dahod station (about one hour away from and 75 km up the tracks from Godhra) around 6 amon 27th morning, almost four hours after its scheduled time of arrival. A number of kar sevaks got out of bogieS-6 to have tea and snacks at a stall on the platform. Soon an argument broke out between them and the Muslimtea stall vendor – according to one account, they refused to pay unless he chanted Jai Shri Ram. The vendorrefused and they started to smash up his stall, before climbing back into the bogie. The vendor filed a complaintwith the railway police. News of these incidents traveled. (See Annexure 3)Another Altercation at the Godhra stationThe kar sevaks had been causing the delay of the train as the guard had been forced to make several emergencystops on their behalf. Therefore instead of arriving quietly in the middle of the night, the train arrived at Godhrajunction at 7:42 am. The local people in the Muslim-dominated areas of Godhra town had been irritated by the‘abusive language’ used by the kar sevaks while they were going to Ayodhya by the same train a few daysearlier. They had reportedly raised slogans as the train approached Godhra on the return journey that morning.The kar sevaks poured on to the platform, had more tea and snacks, and again refused to pay the vendor until hesaid Jai Shri Ram. Exactly what transpired between this Muslim vendor and the kar sevaks varies from oneaccount to another. All witness accounts agree that there was a row. "They argued with the old man on purpose,"one witness said. "They pulled his beard and beat him up... They kept repeating the slogan "mandir ki nirmaankaro, Babar ki aulad ko bahar karo". ("Build the temple and throw out the Muslims...")Suddenly the row took a dangerous turn: the kar sevaks allegedly grabbed hold of a Muslim woman. Heridentity, and how she became involved, remains ambiguous, but four different accounts are available. One saysit was the 16-year-old daughter of the abused vendor. She "came forward and tried to save her father". Anothermentions a woman washing clothes by the railway line being hauled away. A third describes how a Muslim girlwearing a burqa and taking a shortcut to school through the station platform was pounced on and dragged intothe bogie. The fourth mentions attempts on the daughter of a woman waiting to board a train to Vadodara todrag her inside the bogie. All agree that a Muslim woman was hauled into the bogie by the kar sevaks, whoslammed the door shut and would not let her go. Refusing to be quoted by name, a local policeman seconded the story.The Fire Begins:Meanwhile the train began to pull out of the station after a 25-minute halt (as against the scheduled 5 minutes) atthe Godhra station. The emergency chain was pulled from inside the train (from one of the three front generalbogies of the 16-bogie train) and it halted briefly. It is said that the chain was pulled to give time to theremaining kar sevaks at the platform engaged in the altercation to board the train. The train restarted and withina few minutes it had reached Signal Falia 2, a Muslim neighborhood along the railway tracks, a kilometre fromthe Godhra station. It was again stopped by the emergency chain, this time reportedly in bogies S-5 or S-6.An argument ensued, presumably in continuation over the earlier altercation, drawing hundreds of residents."People in the vicinity … started to gather near the train", says one eyewitness. "The mob … requested that thekar sevaks return the girl. But instead of returning the girl, they started closing their windows. This infuriatedthe mob…" By this time the kar sevaks had piled in with swords and sticks and an almost 2000 strong crowdstreamed in from the slum bringing petrol, gas, rags - anything that would burn. They attacked the train withstones and firebombs. They had procured diesel from the garages near the tracks. Diesel was thrown using clothballs dipped in the fuel. The kar sevaks of almost equal strength also resorted to stone throwing which they hadalready collected near their carriages before the train left the Godhra station from the railway tracks. (SeeAnnexure 4)Police and railway officials say that they did not know who began throwing stones first. But the officials say thatthey believe that after about 10 minutes, one or more from the mob poured a flammable substance on a mattressand ignited it between the S-5 and S-6 bogies. Within moments, flames engulfed the bogie. The main target ofthe mob appears to have been coach S-6, which was badly burnt. By 8:30 am S-6 had gone up in flames. It wasin this coach that 58 passengers were killed, including 26 women, 12 children and 20 men. One person died atthe hospital, taking the toll to 59. They were all trapped inside as they had closed the doors and shutters of thecarriage to escape from the missiles. In comparison, the adjoining coach, S-5 was not badly damaged, with onlya few windows broken. The attack is estimated to have taken place between 8:05 and 8:15 am. The great heat ofthe fire inside had eaten away wide swirls of paint around the windows and scorched the steel sheeting such thatit was brown. Inside, everything had been vaporised: flooring, ceiling, upholstery. Only the bones of the carremained, the charred framework of seats and beds. Here and there were a few melted flip-flops, blackenedbrass drinking mugs, and a burst sack of rice.Following the burning of the bogey, other enraged kar sevaks then tried to attack a nearby mosque at SignalFalia. The police fired 30 tear gas shells and 14 rounds of live bullets to disperse them. The damaged coaches S-5 and S-6 were detached, and the train departed with the rest of the passengers at 12:40 pm. On the way toAhmedabad, some kar sevaks reportedly stabbed 2-3 people at the Vadodara railway station. Meanwhile, theinquest and post-mortem of all the recovered bodies was undertaken by 4:30 pm.*Who was behind the massacre? : The Theories That FollowedThe massacre soon became a political football.The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, initially said that the killings were an "organized terroristattack", the work of mujahedin terrorists. Federal government sources speculated that they were "pre-meditated"or the work of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). At one point it was also seen to be a pre-plannedStatus of investigations into the Godhra incidentsInitially, 62 persons had been arrested in connection with the Godhra train attack including seven minor boys incombing operations launched in Signal Falia. They were initially charged with crimes under the Prevention ofTerrorism Ordinance, now the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The charges under POTO were eventually droppedafter considerable pressure because of its biased usage, but Chief Minister Modi reserved the state government'sright to pursue charges against the Godhra arrestees under POTO at a later time "if thought fit." On 23rd Maycharge sheets were filed against the accused.On 6th March, a one member Justice K.G. Shah Commission of Inquiry was set up to probe into the incident.The commission did not have a single sitting till mid May and on 21st May, the commission was expanded toinclude another person, Justice Nanavati. The investigations on the site are being conducted by the state CIDand the Anti Terrorist Squad. Till 8th April, 19 bodies had still not been identified. Evidence had been sent forDNA and other forensic testing. Curiously, people were allowed to walk about freely inside the burnt S-6 bogiesuggesting an alarming lack of seriousness on the part of the investigating agencies. Instead, the bogie inquestion rapidly became a pilgrimage site. Two pictures of Hindu Gods with burnt edges were placed side byside on a seat along with a slightly burnt Hanuman chalisa (hymns in praise of Hanuman, the dutiful companion of Ram).Final update:Hussain Suleman Mohan (35) was arrested by the LCB from Jhabua on Wednesday based on a specific tip-off, Police Inspector of Godhra LCB D J Chavda said. "Suleman has been on the run after the 2002 Godhra train burning incident. Recently, we learned that he is hiding in Jhabua, where he has settled and become an auto driver. We nabbed him yesterday and handed him over to the Special Investigating Team (SIT) here today," Chavda said.This is the second wanted accused of train carnage case who has been nabbed by the Godhra LCB within a week. On July 16, the LCB had nabbed Kadir Abdul Gani from Godhra town and handed him over to SIT, he said.Fifty-nine persons had lost their lives when the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was torched at Godhra Railway Station on February 27, 2002. The incident had triggered large scale riots in the state in which around 1,000 people were killed.In February 2011, a special court had convicted 31 persons for the train burning incident. Out of the 31, eleven were awarded death penalty, while 20 were given life term.PTI