Sabarmati Express fire an accident: UC Banerjee

     New Delhi: The incident of fire in Sabarmati Express at Godhra was not a deliberately attempted fire but an accidental fire, Justice U C Banerjee said on Friday. The High Level Committee headed by Honourable Banerjee, a retired Judge of Supreme Court, who inquired into the incident of fire in train No. 9166 Sabarmati Express at Godhra on February 27, 2002 submitted the final report to J P Batra, Chairman, Railway Board here today. This High Level Committee was constituted by the Government vide notification No. ERB-I/2004/23/29 dated September 4, 2004. The Committee had submitted its interim report on January 17, 2005. It has been four years since 59 people were burnt alive on board the Ahmedabad-bound Sabarmati Express at Godhra in Gujarat on February 27, 2002. The blaze killed 59 Hindu passengers, a majority of them being Kar Sevaks of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) returning from the temple town of Ayodhya, and triggered one of the worst communal orgies in the country leaving 1,169 Muslims and Hindus dead and thousands homeless. The Godhra incident was then blamed on a mob of local Muslims and a Godhra-based cleric was alleged to have been the main conspirator. Earlier, the Nanavati Commission who was probing the Gujarat riots had given orders to the Banerjee Commission, a high-powered committee to submit reports on the Godhra incident and the post- Godhra riots within two months. On December 22, 2005, the Commission had ordered the Banerjee Commission to produce copies of documents, including statements of witnesses and its interim report.

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