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AHMEDABAD: An Indian court jailed 24 Hindus Friday, 11 for life, over the massacre of dozens of Muslims in Gujarat state in 2002, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was chief minister.
The Gulbarg Society Massacre was one of the deadliest single incidents during religious riots that killed more than 1,000 people in some of the worst violence since Independence in 1947.
Here are some key facts about the deadly riots:
Godhra train fire
On February 27, 2002, a fire ripped through a train at Godhra station in Gujarat in western India, burning 59 Hindu pilgrims alive.
Blaming Muslims for the blaze, furious Hindu mobs rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods in several cities seeking reprisals during three days of bloodshed.
The cause of the train fire remains a chief area of dispute between the two religious communities.
An angry Muslim crowd had gathered at Godhra station to protest against the taunting of Muslim porters by Hindu passengers, but they deny setting the train ablaze.
One inquiry concluded the fire was an accident, but other official probes said it was a conspiracy, and 31 Muslims were convicted over the blaze in 2011.
Violence spreads
During the slaughter in Ahmedabad and hundreds of other towns and villages, Hindu mobs rounded up and raped Muslim women. They poured kerosene down their throats and those of their children and threw lit matches at them.
Many eyewitness reports suggested police directed rioters to Muslim homes and also turned fleeing victims back towards their killers.
According to official data, 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, while 223 people went missing and 2,500 others were injured. Rights groups say the numbers were much higher.
Gulbarg Society massacre
The Gulbarg Society was a Muslim housing complex in a lower middle-class neighbourhood, attacked by a mob acting on rumours.
On February 28, a day after the train fire, rioters packed in trucks breached the boundary wall of the complex and set houses ablaze. They dragged people out and burned them alive.
It was one of the two biggest massacres during the riots -- the other was in Naroda Patiya suburb, where more than 90 died.
Blind eye
Hindu nationalist Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, was widely accused of turning a blind eye to the violence.
One senior policeman even testified Modi ordered officers not to intervene as the killing spread.
India's premier has always denied wrongdoing and has never been convicted over the violence.
However, the bloody riots tarred Modi's international image, leading him to be blacklisted for a decade by the United States and the European Union.
Official probes also absolved the state police and government of any collusion in the violence, which left 200,000 people homeless. Many Muslims never returned.
Convictions
More than 100 people have been convicted over the riots in a series of trials over the past 14 years. An Indian court in 2011 found 31 Hindus guilty of murdering 33 Muslims who were seeking shelter in a single house.
And in 2012 a former minister in Modi's state government was handed a life sentence for her role.
Yet activists say many guilty have been acquitted, notably following a 2003 trial described as a “black day” for India's justice system amid reports of witness coercion.
Comments (33) Closed
Those guilty cannot escape from the court of almighy...doesn't matter whether hindu or muslims
Indian Judiciary is one of the best in the world. It gives ample chances to the accused to prove their innocence and also to the prosecutor to prove the crime. Does such a thing happen in any islamic state. An old man was beaten viciously by policemen for eating during ramzan. The judge had considered all the points and sentenced the culprits for life. I salute the our legal system
The police officer Sanjiv Bhatt submitted a sworn affidavit saying that shortly after the train fire, Modi told a meeting of top police officers and administrators that Muslims needed to be "taught a lesson" and the state's Hindus needed to be allowed to "vent out their anger".
@V.Balasubramanian Two wrongs don's make a right! but in the case of Hindu fellow being beaten during Ramzan, the policeman is in jail and all of social media in Pakistan has condemned it. Not a single religious person came out on the street in favor of the policeman.
As a Hindu, I think all the culprits should be in jail, irrespective of thier faith. The Indian public at large are decent people and they did their best to find justice for the victims. The Indian president at that time KR Narayanan has written in his book that he asked indian PM to send the Indian army to quell the violence.
I hope justice can be delayed but will be served one way or the other.
not a single muslim as convicted for death of over 250 hindus in the riots
except mulsim who set fire to the train
that is sad and creates division, all should be punished whatever the religion
no criminal should be spared
Youth were incited,provoked and misguided by political and religious leaders to retaliate and take law into their hands.
The main culprit is still at large.
"On February 27, 2002, a fire ripped through a train at Godhra station in Gujarat in western India, burning 59 Hindu pilgrims alive"
This was a planted action by Hindu extremists to find pretext to grossly punish Muslims, they succeeded. Punishing few with jail terms means eyewash only to salvage Modi's international efforts to paint good image of India. in real no one will get punished at all, they may be shifted to jail to stop critics only.
Almost 70 years after partition Hindu-Muslim enmity continue to be inflamed by exrremists on both sides of the religious divide. Some people never learn!
in my heart and mind i have same respect and love for a muslim ,hindu and a sikh. and i feel very pained when i read article relating to gujarat riots Bharat is a home of various religion and secular in constitution So pray to almighty that episode like gujarat massacre should never be repeated neither in godhra nor in in gulmarg society
Modi just became the CM of Gujarat few days before the riots. And as per records, he took action to stop the riots within 70 minutes. The opposition Congress party tried its best to taint him for the riots by false propaganda and using people at that time. He got cleared by the Supreme Court as not guilty. There has never been any communal violence in Gujarat during his tenure after that. I am not a supporter of Modi in a lot of things, but at least in this case, he had only been framed by the opposition.
I personally don't like Modi, but on the other hand, just based on my bias or prejudice I cannot say he is guilty.
The courts have ruled that he is innocent. Who should I trust - the court, or people, news anchors and others who did not witness anything first hand, but are just toeing the religious biased views. Until proven otherwise, I would rather trust the court.
@WorldView - What "courts have ruled that he is innocent"?
Supreme Court panel refused to prosecute him in 2013, citing insufficient evidence - SIT headed by Geeta Johri was compromised and removed. So the case didn't even get heard in Supreme Court. Powerful politicians get away in our societies!
There is lot of fiction about Godhra riots in Media, i hope one goes through charges and evidence that is in courts domain, rather than fiction.
It is a good sign that people are dwelling on 15 year old riots since there is nothing recent to talk about.
Respect for the Indian justice system ... no one is above the law and at the same time, justice is not based on conjectures and opinions, but hard facts!
@Abdulla Hussain based on your analysis, Hindus too can claim that this incident was conspired by Muslims to tarnish Modis image.
@Abdulla Hussain buddy, think, read, use ur brain a little. The two compartments of train were not burned on its own when standing on a station. It was burned by Muslims. That dosent make ghodhra riots justified but don't turn a blind eye to truth. See and accept whole truth.
@vijay I'm a Pakistan living outside my country and I couldn't agree more....
any article on the godhra massacare
Do we have something new to talk about ? India is in 2016 now.
@Harmony-1© Humbug not true what yu are saying
@Bujang Patil totally agree with you
2002 was a sad year for India. We should learn from the mistakes. We all have though conviction now to say.. Never Again.
@Harmony-1© Modi is always right?
@Harmony-1© that same sanjiv bhatt got a congress ticket later to fight election
@Shahryar Shirazi it's a good show by Pakistanis but when Hindus are miniscule in your country. What happened to Pakistanis when the population was higher. It requires a big heart to share resources. I ask you do Hindus have equal rights in Pakistan?
@Bujang Patil - Not just this "15 year old riots". What about 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots?
@Doesnt matter: Naturally, he was unlikely to get a BJP ticket after his affidavit against a BJP leader!
@WorldView but the same rule many Indians does not apply for courts of Pakistan. Where only indian perception of things remains ultimate.
@V.Balasubramanian one of the best that it took 14 years to decide a case and most of the convicts are free
The Indian judiciary has taken fourteen years to come with a verdict and that also is very lenient for the crime commited. The families who have suffered still waiting for a fair justice.