2002 Gujarat violence

2002 Gujarat violence refers to a series of riots and other incidents of mob violence that occurred in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002. An estimated 800 to 2000 people were killed in the riots, which were driven by tensions between Hindus and Muslims in the state.

The riots were triggered on February 27, 2002 by a fire on a passenger train that was passing through the town of Godhra. An estimated 59 passengers (many of them women) including 14 children were killed in the fire, which is reported to have occurred in a coach reserved for women and children. Many of the passengers were Hindu piligrims called Kar Sevaks returning from the Hindu religious site of Ayodhya. The cause of the fire is disputed. It was initially reported that the fire was started by a large mob which attacked the train without provocation ([1]). Following such initial reports, there were riots in Gujarat state. In the following months, an estimated 800 to 2000 people, majority of them from the Muslim community, were killed in riots throughout Gujarat.

The reasons for the train fire and the riots are fiercely disputed. One hypothesis states that the attackers were Muslim vendors at the Godhra station who had had an altercation with the Kar Sevaks earlier, and that the riots were an expected retaliation to the train fire. Another hypothesis states that the riots were pogroms in disguise, carried out by members of the Sangh Parivar using the train fire as a pretext ([1]). Another hypothesis has been advanced by the one person investigation committee appointed by the railway ministry, that the train fire was accidentely set off by people inside the train. ([1]).

As of February 2005, the factual dispute regarding the 2002 Godhra train fire and the subsequent riots is not close to resolution.

The train fire in Godhra

In February 2002, a sleeper coach in the train Sabarmati Express, coming from Faizabad and proceeding towards Ahmedabad caught fire a few minutes after it left the Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002, killing an estimated 58 people. The coach that was ravaged in the fire was occupied predominantly by members and sympathisers of the Sangh Parivar, called Kar Sevaks who were returning after a pilgrimage to Ayodhya, a religious place in North India. This incident was a precursor to a spate of widespread communal violence in the state which lasted nearly three months.

The incident was widely reported in the media and the most commonly circulated version was that this was an incident of sabotage and arson, aimed at the Hindus. Because Godhra is a town with a Muslim majority, it was widely suspected that a few miscreants from that community were responsible for this ghastly incident. During the course of investigation, the central investigating agencies found evidence of arson. The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) at Ahmedabad in its initial report, stated that the fire was fuelled by 60 litres of inflammable liquid; however, the final report of the Bannerjee Commission appointed by the Central Government, has subsequently dismissed that result.

Though acceptance of the accounts so far described is almost unanimous, the following are the key points of contention between the various parties.

• A few eye-witnesses have testified that there was an altercation between a Kar Sevak and a Muslim tea vendor at the railway station preceding the catastrophe, apparently over the payment of the due amount. Some people claim that this incident had happened when the Kar Sevaks were on the way to Ayodhya, a few days earlier at the same station. The Sangh Parivar refutes the version and maintains that the passengers were the victims of unprovoked violence.

• The FSL report had concluded controversially that since the doors of the coach were latched from the inside, there was a slim possibility that the liquid fuel was thrown from the outside, prior to setting the fire. This prompted opposition parties (Congress and the Communist Party of India) to point the accusing finger at Sangh Parivar, suspecting it of stage-managing the incident to stir up communal tension for political gains. However, a few survivors claimed that they had managed to escape through the doors, and this raised questions about the veracity and completeness of the investigation report.

• The Sangh Parivar also alleged that a local Congress opposition party member was involved in the arson. It alleged that the incident was not an act of immediate provocation and reaction, but one involving a deep-rooted controversy, involving terrorists.