After weeks of building up the hype, one of the most infamous cases in Indian history (2002 Godhra train burning case) has finally been brought to culmination with the court finding 31 guilty of creating the inferno in the Sabarmati Express that killed hundreds of kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya.
It led to the Gujarat riots where the state under the chief ministership of Narendra Modi was unable to stop mobs from running riot and killing thousands of innocent people.
The judgment on Godhra will go a long way in setting to rest much of the speculation.
Interestingly, the conspiracy theory has been upheld. It means that there was a pre-planned conspiracy by the people accused to burn the train.
The quantum of the sentence, whether it is a death sentence, life sentence or any other, is to be announced on February 25.
An SIT (special investigating team) brought into existence by the state govt said there was a pre-planned motive to attack the train.
With many saying the Gujarat SIT was biased, another SIT was created by the Supreme Court in 2008, this time under RK Raghavan. It had sided with the Gujarat SIT’s finding.
The verdict was given by a special court in Ahmedabad.
The court was deciding the fate of over 90 people who were accused of burning Sabarmati Express’ S-6 coach on February 27, 2002.
The number of people killed in the train carnage was 59.
The court upholding the conspiracy theory is what has been promoted by the BJP and Narendra Modi, while the Congress party was more into saying that it was either an accident or spontaneous – many accused the kar sevaks of trying to abduct a Muslim girl and the people on the train station reacting in a violent manner.