Godhra Muslims await justice, not elections

GODHRA: Five years after the horrific burning of 59 train passengers brought notoriety to Godhra and sparked terrible violence that engulfed Gujarat, Muslims here remain a worried and insecure lot. Another assembly election is in the offing in December. And although most Muslims say they will vote for the Congress, not out of any great love for the party, electoral politics is far from their minds.

Relatives of the large number of Muslims arrested and jailed on suspicion of their involvement in the burning of the Sabarmati Express in February 2002 that killed 59 passengers are clearly leading a miserable life.

And many of them insist that the police have framed their loved ones.

One of them is Mohammad Mumdu who told a visiting IANS correspondent: "My son is a blind boy. I even have a medical certificate issued by a government doctor to prove it. Yet he has been behind bars for five years. Do you think he would have run a kilometre to burn the train?"

A total of 134 people were accused in the train burning case. Of this 115 had been arrested. Bail was given to only 16 of the accused and 13 were let off by the court as they had been arrested on mistaken identity.

The families of the accused want a speedy trial, stating that 86 of the accused have spent more than five years in jail without having been proven guilty on any count.

Two of the accused died during these five years, including one in custody.

Women members of the families of Shmashir Khan, Feroze Khan and Sultan Khan, three brothers arrested in the case, say they are trying to make their ends meet by doing menial jobs.

"We feed our children if there is food available, otherwise we thrash them to make them go to sleep," said one of the women while the other two began to wail when IANS approached them.

Anybody visiting the women's hutments in Rehmat Nagar is viewed as a saviour who may provide some financial assistance.

The women work for monthly wages of a few hundred rupees, which is certainly not enough to sustain their families.

Residents of Signal Falia, a Muslim dominated area close to the Godhra railway station and whose residents bore the brunt of the police crackdown following the train burning, say the town remains divided on communal lines.

According to them, there is no chance of a Muslim finding a job in a Hindu household.

"The Muslims of Godhra are told that they are Pakistanis," said Saeed Umerji, son of Maulana Hussain Umerji, who was arrested in February 2003 as a prime accused in the Godhra case.

Haji Abdul Razzak, who runs a mill in the town, says: "Most families of Ghanchi Muslims in Godhra have close relatives in Sind. Marriages within these families still take place. It has been so from pre-independence days. Whenever there is a mail or phone call from Pakistan, it is interpreted that we have some nefarious link with Pakistan."

Godhra is so polarized that Hindus and Muslims avoid each other's areas.

Muslims, however, say that over the last five years the blot on the name of their community has blurred a bit.

"Facts coming to light before the (Justice G.T.) Nanavati and (Justice K.G.) Shah commissions have demolished the theory propounded by the government that the Godhra incident was a pre-planned conspiracy," pointed out Umerji.

Social activist Munir Kheralu said: "Apart from the train burning Godhra has not seen any communal riot in the last five years. The train burning was not pre-planned."

Five years back Godhra was an election issue. It is unlikely to be so this time.

Muslims complain that in the last five years neither the local legislator nor any state minister has set foot in the areas with Muslim population.

"Muslims have no choice but to vote for the Congress as there is no third political force in the state. The Congress takes our votes for granted and does not address our concerns," complained Idris, a trader.

Umerji said the Muslims were not very enthusiastic about who forms the government in the state.

"All we want is justice. Those who are innocent should be released at the earliest. Our only hope lies with the judiciary. The law of the land cannot be different for different comunities."

He underlined that while most of the accused in the Godhra case were in jail facing charges under the now repealed Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), those responsible for the post-Godhra violence that claimed some 1,000 lives were out on bail or had not been arrested at all.

No doubt time has come to a standstill in Godhra. The burnt S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express still stands at a railway yard in the town, reminding everyone of the ghastly incident.

Like the S-6 coach, the train burning case has also been stagnant. The Supreme Court had stayed its trial along with 10 other riot cases.

The stay followed petitions from human rights groups seeking re-investigation of these cases and their trial outside Gujarat.

Said businessmen Ramesh Shukla: "People do come to Godhra from other cities for business. However, not many would prefer to settle here."