by NITYA RAMAKRISHNAN
A judgment has branded the Muslims of Godhra “Hindu killers” by tradition. The 27 February 2002 train fire, it declares, was a conspiracy to kill karsevaks. Ignoring the plain record that the source of the fire was inside the train even before it suddenly stopped after leaving Godhra station, the judgment holds that the train was stalled by Muslims to break into a coach brimming with belligerent karsevaks, pour petrol, and start a fire, and to do so all unnoticed. The half-truths of forensics and the machinations of the police have succeeded in the trial, and 31 men, unfairly made to bear the burden of proof and denied vital witnesses, have been sentenced either to death or life imprisonment.
In 2002, 9166 Up, the Sabarmati Express, ran from Muzaffarpur to Ahmedabad, passing through Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and entering Gujarat at Dahod. After Dahod and before Vadodara, it had a scheduled five minute halt at a sleepy little town called Godhra.
On the morning of 27 February 2002, the Sabarmati Express pulled into Platform 1 of the Godhra railway station at 7.43 am, five hours after its scheduled time of arrival. On the train were karsevaks returning from Ayodhya. During the train’s halt at Godhra that day, tempers ran high on the platform. Karsevaks descended from the train shouting religious slogans. Some of them went about the platform forbidding custom to Muslim tea vendors and forcibly preventing payment for what had been sold. For no reason at all, they beat up hawkers. Other karsevaks molested Muslim women. A Muslim girl, Sofiya, was waiting for a local train with her mother and sister. Covering her mouth and pinning down her arms, the karsevaks pulled Sofiya towards the train which was soon to leave. Her mother shouted for help. As Sofi ya freed herself and ran into the booking clerk’s office she saw the karsevaks set upon another burkha-clad lady.
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(Thanks to Niranjan Ramakrishnan)