SC to hear Godhra train burning case on Feb 13

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will hear on February 13 the appeals filed by the Gujarat government and several other convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case.

A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Aravind Kumar made it clear that no adjournment will be given in the matter on the next date of hearing.

On February 27, 2002, 59 people were killed when the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Gujarat's Godhra, triggering riots in the state.

The Godhra incident occurred on February 27, 2002, when the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express was set ablaze near the Godhra railway station in Gujarat, resulting in the deaths of 59 individuals, including women and children.

Several independent commentators also concluded that the fire was almost certainly an accident, noting that the initial cause of the blaze was never conclusively determined. Historian stated that the official account of the train attack—that it was organized and carried out by people under orders from Pakistan—was entirely baseless. Scholar Martha Nussbaum similarly challenged this narrative, stating that several inquiries found the fire to be the result of an accident rather than a planned conspiracy

This tragic event triggered widespread riots across the state.In 2011, a trial court convicted 31 individuals in connection with the incident, sentencing 11 to death and 20 to life imprisonment. The Gujarat High Court, in its 2017 verdict, upheld the convictions but commuted the death sentences to life terms.The upcoming Supreme Court hearing aims to address the appeals from both the state and the convicts, potentially bringing a resolution to the long-standing legal proceedings associated with this case.

A study conducted by the Gujarat Forensic Science Laboratory concluded that the fire was caused by inflammable liquid poured into the coach by the attackers. Additionally, the report indicated that the fire started from inside the coach, which explains the minimal scorching on the exterior below the windows