Slew of events lined up for 10th anniversary of Gujarat riots

A slew of events have been lined up on Monday to mark the ten years of the gruesome incident at Godhra that killed 59 karsevaks and triggered large-scale communal riots across Gujarat resulting in the death of over 1200 people of the minority community.

The incident, burning of S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express returning from Ayodhya near the Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002, and the aftermath that followed have kept Gujarat in news for the past decade.

Human rights activists have been accusing Chief Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues and other government functionaries of deliberate inaction in containing the anti-minority riots.

Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, has alleged that Modi and others were complacent with the rioters and Modi gave directions to police and other officers 'to allow Hindus vent out their anger' at a meeting on February 27, 2002 which he claims to have attended but denied by Modi.

Though a decade has gone by, judgements have been pronounced only in few riot cases and many of the cases are still under trial.

Even the Nanavati Commission appointed by the state government to enquire into the post-Godhra riots has not submitted its report.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the incident, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and family members of Godhra carnage victims and the NGOs working for the post-Godhra riots affected persons have lined up a slew of events on Monday.

VHP international general secretary Praveen Togadia will lead a rally to the S-6 Coach kept now kept at the Godhra railway yard and pay homage to those killed in the incident.

A number of Godhra carnage-affected families would pay homage to the deceased and offer prayers in temples.

As many as 45 NGOs today came together to commence a 10-day event 'Insaf ki dagar par', that would focus on the 2002 riots and the subsequent pursuit of justice for victims.

Besides, many other rallies, sufi sangeet, exhibitions, poetry recitation, dialogues with the victims and prayers have been planned by different bodies.

The victims of Gulburg society at Meghaninagar here where ex-MP Ehsan Jaffery was killed by rioters along with 68 others, will be gathering at the society and read out verses from the holy Quran.

There were two commissions that probed the Godhra incident but arrived at different conclusions.

While the UC Banerjee Commission, appointed by the then Railway Minister Laluprasad Yadav said the fire in the S-6 coach was accidental, the state-appointed commission comprising of retd Justices G T Nanavati and Akshay Mehta in its part I report said the carnage was pre-planned.

In the last decade, verdicts on some of the important cases have come which include the Godhra carnage case where 11 have been sentenced to death and 20 others given life imprisonment by a trial court.

In the Best Bakery and Bilkis Bano case which were tried outside Gujarat, nine and 11 persons have been sentenced to life imprisonment respectively.

While last year a special court awarded life imprisonment to 31 people in the Sardarpuara post-Godhra riot case in which 33 people were burnt to death.

The Supreme court in 2008 had appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by former CBI chief RK Raghavan to investigate nine major cases, which included Godhra carnage and Sardarpura cases.

The other cases that the SIT has investigated and in which trial was on, include the Gulburg society as also Naroda Patiya where 95 persons were killed, Naroda Gam (11 deaths), Dipda Darwaja (11 deaths), Ode (30 deaths in two separate cases) and Prantij where four persons were killed including three British nationals.

Some accused include politicians like MLA Maya Kodnani in Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gam cases, former VHP leaders Jaydeep Patel and Babu Bajrangi in Naroda Gam, and Prahlad Gosa, former BJP MLA in Dipda Darwaja case.