Godhra case should be re-investigated: Prashant Bhushan

Tuesday March 01, 2011 06:33:40 PM, IANS

New Delhi: 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.

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