New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) The February 2002 burning of a train coach in Gujarat’s Godhra town should be re-investigated as the verdict was based on wrong evidence, prominent lawyer and civil rights activist Prashant Bhushan said Tuesday after a court sentenced 11 people to death and 20 to life imprisonment.
‘It is a totally wrong verdict, based on wrong evidence,’ Bhushan told IANS, shortly after a special court in Ahmedabad ruled on the quantum of sentence to the 31 convicted of conspiracy and setting on fire the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express on Feb 27, 2002.
‘Though the sentenced persons can go to the higher courts, what is needed is a re-investigation. The case is based on wrong premise that warrants a re-investigation,’ Bhushan said.
‘On any account, the sentenced persons cannot be charged with murder and conspiracy. At the worst, they should be charged for arson,’ he said.
Fifty-nine radical Hindu activists returning from Ayodhya were killed in the train burning that triggered a communal frenzy, claiming an estimated 1,000 lives in the state.
The 31 people were convicted Feb 22. The court had acquitted 63 others, including alleged mastermind Maulvi Umarji.
