Last Update: Tuesday, January 18, 2005. 0:23am (AEDT)
Riots: The burning of the train prompted crowds of Hindus to attack Muslim property in Gujarat. (Reuters)
Train fire behind Gujarat riots 'an accident'
A train fire that killed 59 Hindu pilgrims and set off deadly sectarian riots in Gujarat in 2002 was an accident and not caused by a Muslim mob as originally alleged, an Indian Government investigation concludes.
The fire was originally said to have been sparked by kerosene bombs thrown at the train.
However, the four-member committee appointed to investigate the fire has found it was probably caused by someone cooking or smoking inside a coach.
"The fire in S6 coach of Sabarmati Express can at this stage be ascribed as an 'accidental fire'," the committee said in its interim report.
About 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in rioting and bloody reprisals after the train fire on February 27, 2002.
"There has been a preponderance of evidence that the fire in coach number S6 originated in the coach itself without any external input," retired Supreme Court judge UC Bannerjee, who headed the committee, said.
"On the basis of the available evidence, the committee has found it unbelievable that Kar Sevaks (Hindu pilgrims) armed with Trishuls (tridents) would allow to get themselves burned without a murmur."
The Hindu pilgrims were returning from the temple town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state when two coaches of their passenger train caught fire near a predominantly Muslim village, just after leaving Godhra train station in Gujarat.
Both the Gujarat Government and Federal Government at the time said the pilgrims were attacked by a mob of Muslims after insults were exchanged at the station.
The Gujarat Government accused 131 people of taking part in the arson that destroyed two coaches and arrested 104 under an anti-terrorism law passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
No one has been convicted and the law was later repealed by the Congress-led Government, which came to power in May.
Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav - a maverick leader staunchly opposed to Gujarat's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - announced the high-level departmental inquiry in July.
Gujarat's Hindu nationalist administration has been accused by several domestic and foreign human rights groups of turning a blind eye to the riots and in some cases helping the trouble-makers.
The previous Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-led federal government was also seen as a passive bystander.
A leader of the BJP, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, rejects the Bannerjee committee's findings as "politically motivated."
"The timing of the release of the report is such that Laloo thinks he can divert people's attention away from misgovernance and his party's poor administrative performance in Bihar," Mr Naqvi said, referring to the minister's home state.
Former law minister Arun Jaitley questions the need for the investigation.
"There is one probe going on into the conspiracy angle and another criminal trial is in process," he said.
"Therefore the question is was there any need for another probe?"
However, a spokesman for the ruling Congress party, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, dismisses the BJP's reaction as "irresponsible".
"The charge that the probe is politically motivated is an old charge, they cannot dispute the facts," he said.
- AFP
Train fire behind Gujarat riots 'an accident'. 18/01/2005. ABC News Online