It was an ugly and deadly event that was the precursor to an uglier and deadlier event. On Tuesday, nine years after 60 Hindu pilgrims were burnt alive when their train coach was set on fire, an Indian court in the Western state of Gujarat found 31 Muslims guilty of the crime. Of the 100 initially accused, 63 were acquitted, 20 were sentenced to life in prison and an unprecedented 11 people received death sentences.
The 2002 train carnage set off the worst communal riots in the history of post-independence India, with more than 1000 people, the majority of them Muslims, losing their lives in the hands of enraged Hindu mobs.
The case was long bogged down by the lack of clear evidence on whether the fire was the result of a deliberate conspiracy, an act of impulse or an accident. A 2006 inquiry by the railway ministry ruled the fire an accident, while the investigation by a state-appointed commission concluded that it was a premeditated conspiracy. The verdict was further complicated by the fact that despite 31 convictions, the court acquitted two people who were accused of being the main conspirators. An editorial in the Hindustan Times declared that the verdict was not “in balance” and questioned how there could have been a conspiracy when the main conspirators were declared innocent.
The train burning and the resulting massacre have long haunted the otherwise successful leader of the state, Narendra Modi, who was accused of giving the Hindu mobs a free rein during the rioting. Despite excellent reports of governance of a state growing at 11%, Modi’s national aspirations have been hindered by memories of his alleged role in the riots and he remains a deeply divisive figure, both nationally and internationally.
More than 10,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in advance of the verdict in anticipation of violence due to the announcement. The verdict was received peacefully for the most part, though Muslim activists did express hope that the case would set a “precedent for justice” for victims of the rioting that followed the train burning.
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