The Hindu : Front Page : “Godhra train fire a conspiracy”

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“Godhra train fire a conspiracy”

Manas Dasgupta

Nanavati at variance with Banerjee report

GANDHINAGAR: The Nanavati-Mehta judicial commission has concluded that the fire aboard coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express at the Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002, was a “pre-planned conspiracy” by local Muslims.

The report of the commission, appointed by the Gujarat government, is totally at variance with the conclusions of the U.C. Banerjee Committee, appointed by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, which said the fire was “purely accidental.”

The Banerjee report was made public but is yet to be tabled in Parliament because of a stay by the Gujarat High Court. Though Part-I report of the Nanavati commission, tabled in the Assembly on Thursday, exclusively deals with the train carnage, and not the post-Godhra communal riots, the report gave a clean chit to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the members of his then Council of Ministers and police officers. It also ruled out the involvement of any religious or political organisation in the fire.

“There is absolutely no evidence to show that the Chief Minister, his Council of Ministers or the police officers had played any role in the Godhra incident or that there was any lapse on their part in the matter of providing protection, relief and rehabilitation to the victims of communal riots,” the report said.

It also rejected the allegations that they failed to comply with the recommendations and directions given by the National Human Rights Commission. The first part of the report, however, was silent on the roles of the Chief Minister and others during the post-Godhra riots, the report of which would come later in the second part yet to be finalised by the commission.

The commission apparently rejected the BJP and VHP allegations of the hand of ISI in the conspiracy.

Transfer of Godhra case: apex court notice to Gujarat

First part of Godhra report submitted

Playing on fear, from Godhra to Guantanamo

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