Lala Lajpatrai College of Commerce & Economics
Foundation Course I Project 2022-23
Name: Riddhi Pashte
Roll No: 62
Class: Divison: B
Topic: GODHRA RIOTS
Submission Date: 12 august 2023
Student Sign:
Abstract :
Considering the communal riots in 1969,1985, 1992 and recently in 2002, communal riots between Hindus
and Muslims are not new phenomena in Gujarat. Yet the active participation of people from all sections of
the society, the scale and the brutality of violence and the spread of violence in new areas (that used to be
peaceful earlier) make Gujarat 2002 a unique phenomenon.
Why did riots occur in Gujarat? Why are the religious identities so hardened and politicized in Gujarat?
Further, riots are endemic where the civil society organizations are inactive in controlling the riots as well
as work in tandem with the State. Taking Gujarat 2002 riots as a case study, the aim is to develop a
universal eclectic approach towards understanding communal violence.
Submitted to: Dr. Vaidehi Kamath.
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GODHRA RIOTS
The 1969 Gujarat riots refers to the communal violence between Hindus and Muslims during
September-October 1969, in Gujarat, India. The violence was Gujarat's first major riot that
involved massacre, arson and looting on a large scale. It was the most deadly Hindu-Muslim
violence since the 1947 partition of India, and remained such until the 1989 Bhagalpur violence.
According to the official figures, 660 people were killed, 1074 people were injured and over
48,000 lost their property.
The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence and the Gujarat pogrom, was a
three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Following
the initial incident there were further outbreaks of violence in Ahmedabad for three months;
statewide, there were further outbreaks of communal riots against the minority Muslim
population for the next year. This riots between February 2002 - March 2002.
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Burning of Train in Godhra
On February 27, 2002, in Godhra, a small town in India's Gujarat state, two train cars
were set on fire, killing at least fifty-eight people. The victims were Hindus returning
back to Ahmedabad from Ayodhya, the contested birthplace of a Hindu God, Lord Rama.
This incident was followed by horrific communal carnage all over Gujarat for more than
four months. Over 2000 people were killed in the violence. Sixteen of Gujarat's 24
districts were engulfed in the organized armed mob attacks on Muslims between
February 28 and March 2, 2002.
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What Actually Happened?
There were various accounts of the situation at Godhra railway station. According to
one version, some Hindus near the Godhra station molested a Muslim girl and the
Muslim vendors who used to work on the railway station retaliated against the Hindus'
attempt to pull the Muslim girl inside the train. Another version claimed that some
Hindus from the train bought tea from a Muslim vendor but refused to pay him, leading
to an altercation between them (Mishra 2003). The Hindus that were sitting on the roof
of the train stripped themselves and made some obscene gestures towards the Muslim
women who were living in nearby areas according to yet another version. The Gujarat
state government claimed that Muslims residing near the railway station that had
gathered in large numbers threw fireballs into the train and that resulted in the fire .The
exact course of the incident at the Godhra railway station is still unclear.
In spite of the ambiguity about the events at Godhra, the various interpretations and
explanations about the event led to horrific violence all over Gujarat for more than
four months.
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According to Gujarat Commission Report
In February 2002, thousands of devotees of Lord Rama (known as "Ramsevaks" or "Kar
Sevaks") had gone from Gujarat to Ayodhya at the behest of the Vishva Hindu Parishad to take
part in a ceremony called the Purnahuti Maha Yagna. On 25 February, 1,700 people, a mix of
pilgrims and karsevaks boarded the Sabarmati Express which was bound for Ahmedabad.[18] On
27 February 2002, the train made its scheduled stop at Godhra about four hours late, at 7:43 am.
As the train started leaving the platform, someone pulled the emergency brake and the train
stopped near the signal point. The driver of the train later stated that the chain had been pulled
multiple times, judging by the instruments in his cabin.
The train was attacked by a mob of around 2,000 people. After some stone-pelting, four coaches
of the train were set alight, trapping many people inside. 59 people including 27 women and 10
children were burnt to death, and 48 others were injured. According to J Mahapatra, additional
director general of the Gujarat police, "miscreants had kept the petrol-soaked rags ready for use
much before the train had arrived at Godhra".Scholar Martha Nussbaum has challenged this
narrative, stating that several inquiries have found that the conflagration was the result of an
accident rather than a planned conspiracy.
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Arrests
By 28 February 2002, 51 people had been
arrested for the incident on charges of arson,
rioting and looting.One of the alleged
organisers of the attack was arrested in West
Bengal. West Bengal's Chief Secretary, Sourin
Roy, said the detainee was a commander of the
Muslim radical group Harkat-ul Jehad-e-
Islami, who was allegedly attempting to enter
Bangladesh. On 17 March 2002, chief suspect
Haji Bilal, a local town councillor and a
The charge-sheet filed by the SIT before first class
Congress worker, was captured by an anti-
railway magistrate P. K. Joshi, which ran to more than
terrorist squad in Godhra. The FIR had alleged
500 pages, stated that 59 people were killed in the S-6
that a 1540-strong mob attacked the Sabarmati
coach of Sabarmati Express when a mob of around
Express on 27 February, minutes after the
1540 unidentified people attacked it near Godhra
delayed train left the Godhra station on the day
railway station.The 68 people accused in the charge-
of the incident. The president of Godhra
sheet included 57 accused of stoning and torching the
municipality, Mohammed Hussain Kalota, was
train. The charge-sheet also stated that a mob attacked
arrested in March. Others arrested included
the police, prevented the fire brigade from approaching
corporators Abdul Razak and Shiraj Abdul
the burning train, and stormed the train for a second
Jamesha. Bilal was also alleged to have a
time. 11 others were charged with being part of this
connection with gang leader Latif and was
mob.Initially, 107 people were charged, five of whom
reported to have
died while the case was still pending in court. Eight
visited Karachi in Pakistan several times.
others were juveniles, who were tried by a separate
court. As many as 253 witnesses were examined during
the trial and over items of 1500 documentary evidences were presented to the court. On 24 July
2015, the prime accused in the Godhra case, Hussain Suleman Mohammad, was arrested by the
Godhra crime branch from Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. On 18 May 2016, a heretofore
missing `conspirator' of the event, Farooq Bhana, was Arrested from Mumbai by Gujarat Anti-
Terrorist Squad (ATS). On 30 January 2018, Yakub Pataliya was arrested from Godhra by a
team of B Division police in the town after they received a tip-off that he was spotted in a
locality.
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Court Verdict
In February 2011, the trial court convicted 31 people and acquitted 63 others, saying the incident
was a planned conspiracy. The convictions were based on the murder and conspiracy provisions
of Sections 302 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code respectively and under Sections 149, 307,
323, 324, 325, 326, 332, 395, 397, and 436 of the Code and some sections of the Railway Act
and Police Act. The death penalty was awarded to 11 convicts; those believed to have been
present at a meeting held the night before the incident where the conspiracy was formed, and
those who, according to the court, had actually entered the coach and poured petrol before setting
it afire. Twenty others were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Maulvi Saeed Umarji, who was believed by the SIT to be the prime conspirator, was
acquitted along with 62 other accused for lack of evidence.The convicted filed appeals in the
Gujarat High Court. The state government also challenged the trial court's decision to acquit 61
persons in the High Court and sought death sentences for 20 convicts awarded life imprisonment
in the case.
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Gujarat High Court Verdict
In October 2017, accepting prosecution's contention that there was a conspiracy behind the
incident, the Gujarat High Court commuted the death sentence of 11 convicts to life
imprisonment, while upholding the earlier life sentence of 20 others.Thus, all the 31 accused
who were convicted earlier in 2011 by the SIT court were given life imprisonment.While, 63
others who were acquitted in 2011 by trial court, were re-acquitted by high court, including the
alleged mastermind. The court asked the state government and railways to pay 10 lakh
compensation to the families of each of the 59 victims.
Reactions to the SIT Investigation
BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain stated, "The theory propagated by the (central)
government and some NGOs (Non-Governmental Organization) has been proved wrong...." Law
Minister Veerappa Moily (a Congress Party member) said it was premature to comment and that
the courts will take their own course.R. K. Raghavan, who was the head of the Special
Investigating Team, said he was satisfied with the verdict. BJP spokesperson, Ravi Shankar
Prasad said the verdict had exposed the nefarious designs of the UPA government which tried to
cover up the entire episode.
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Brief Timeline
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Bibliography:
• https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/download/pdf/831/1.0093005/1
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godhra_train_burning#:~:text=The%20Godhra%20t
rain%20burning%20occurred,the%20Indian%20state%20of%20Gujarat
• https://www.slideshare.net/AvinashChandra26/gujrat-riots
• https://www.thequint.com/topic/2002-gujarat-riots
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