If train was on time, there would have been no carnage

Rubbishing the conspiracy theory put forth in the Nanavati-Mehta commission’s report, the Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM) on Friday maintained that had the Sabarmati Express not been late, the carnage would never have happened.

Talking to mediapersons, JSM convenor Mukul Sinha said that the Godhra probe panel’s conclusions on the killing of 59 passengers on February 27, 2002 are absurd and no prudent person would have derived such theory from the material available to the commission in form of depositions of eye witnesses. The JSM has termed the first part of the report as "derailed report of Sabarmati Express".

Citing the "deliberate overlooking of certain direct evidence" like a statement by IPS officer Raju Bhargav that he had not smelt petrol when he visited the bogie, Sinha alleged the commission has done "devilish manipulations". The commission has been blamed for using specific portions of depositions, the ones that suited its theory.

Moreover, Sinha also questioned how the issue of giving a clean chit to Chief Minister Narendra Modi emerged in the first part of the report, when role of politicians was to be examined in the third reference. Moreover, the commission continued with the theory set up by Modi on the day of incident that it was a pre-planned conspiracy.

JSM claimed that the communal conflagration on Godhra station was the outcome of the Kar sevaks denying payment to tea vendors. Its report maintained that stone pelting began on the station, but no Muslim was involved in chain pulling incidents. Moreover, second stoppage of the train near A cabin was due to technical snag, since the driver had not reset all ACP discs properly.

The NGO also didn’t agree with the theory that the culprits got into the bogie and spread some 140 litres of petrol. "If it was so, no one would have survived," Sinha claimed emphasising on the flashover theory that he presented before the commission last year.

The JSM report also claimed that the FSL report on the residue in the bogie too was not properly analysed. JSM stated that the commission ought to have recommended immediate change of the investigating officer and a fresh inquiry.

(Source)