JANSANGHARSH MANCH 104, Maharanapratap Complex, Ellisbridge, Ahmedabad. Ph. 07926577280

1. JANSANGHARSH MANCH 104, Maharanapratap Complex, Ellisbridge, Ahmedabad. Ph. 07926577280

2. An arsonist named Marinus van der Lubbe, 24, from Holland, had been wandering around Berlin for a week attempting to burn government buildings.. The exact sequence of events will never be known, but Nazi storm troopers under the direction of Göring befriended the arsonist and helped him to burn the Reichstag that night.

3. The storm troopers, led by SA leader Karl Ernst, used the underground tunnel that connected Göring's residence with the cellar in the Reichstag. They entered the building, scattered gasoline, then hurried back through the tunnel. The Reichstag was set on fire on 27th Feb. 1933.

4. The German Reichstag that was burnt on 27th February, 1933

5. When told of the arrest of the arsonist, Van der Lubbe, Hitler became enraged : "The German people have been soft too long. Every Communist official must be shot. All Communist deputies must be hanged this very night. All friends of the Communists must be locked up.

6. Hitler left the fire scene and went straight to the offices of his newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter,to oversee its coverage of the fire. He stayed up all night with Goebbels putting together a paper full of tales of a Communist plot to violently seize power in Berlin. Over 4000 communists were killed thereafter….

7. Chalo Ayodhya PURNAHUTI MAHA YAGNA AT AYODHYA: It all began with the mobilization by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for a programme at Ayodhya, which they have called “Purnahuti Maha Yagna” 1.1.1

8. Starting for Ayodhya from Ahmedabad station 1.1.1

9. PURNAHUTI MAHA YAGNA AT AYODHYA Three groups of about 2000 each of Ram Bhakt Karsevaks were to go to Ayodhya. The first group was to leave Ahmedabad on 22nd February 2002 and reach Ayodhya on 24th February 2002 1.1.1

10. TRAVEL OF KARSEVAKS FROM GUJARAT TO AYODHYA: The group of 2200 Ramsevaks which had gone to Ayodhya from Ahmedabad on 22nd February 2002, had started their return journey from Ayodhya to Ahmedabad on 25th February 2002. 1.2.1

11. From Ayodhya to Godhra by Sabarmati express :     There is absolutely no evidence that any person in Gujarat (except may be the VHP) knew about the specific date of the travel of the Karsevaks from Ayodhya to Gujarat on 25th February 2002. The Central, State and local intelligence agencies have deposed before the Commission that they did not have any information about the travel plan of the Karsevaks! 2.1.7

12. From Ayodhya to Godhra by Sabarmati Express : and therefore, in the absence of this most vital piece of evidence regarding the specific information of the travel of the Karsevaks, there could not have been any conspiracy hatched by any person to burn the S6 coach of the Sabarmati Express on 27th February, 2002. 2.1.7

13. Chief Minister sets the agenda Yet the Chief Minister on 27th February, 2002 had made the following press statement which was published all over Gujarat:

14. Chief Minister sets the agenda • “The abominable event that has occurred in Godhra does not befit any civilized society, is not a communal event but is an one sided collective terrorist attack by one community ….. He further said that this incident is not a simple incident of violence or communal event but is a preplanned incident….”

15. Chief Minister sets the agenda • Who could fit the bill of “International Terrorist”? • They found a “Maulana” after one year of the incident - Maulana Umarji

16. WHO WAS THIS TERRORIST? • An innocent, old, semi-invalid respected muslim leader of the Ghanchi Community of Godhra who under the Orders of the District Collector Godhra, was in-charge of the official relief camp at Iqbal Primary School since 5.3.2002! • He had met Atal Behari at Godhra on 4.4.2002, Deepak Swarup, IG Baroda range, DSP, Godhra and District Collector Jayanti Ravi on 3.3.2002 and regularly thereafter.

17. Arrival of Sabarmati Express at Godhra Late Arrival at Godhra On 27th Feb.2002, the Sabarmati Express from Ayodhya had arrived on platform no.1 at Godhra Station at 7.43 hours in the morning almost five hours late. 3.1.1

18. Altercations between Karsevaks and Vendors Sheelaben Virpal, (Exh.167), Punamkumari Tiwari, (Exh.169), Saitishkumar Ravidutt Mishra (Exh.160), Sadhwiji Minakshi Deviji, a Karsevak, (Exh.5678) and Smt.Savitaben Tribhovandas Sadhu, a Ramsevak and activist of VHP (Exh.150) said that there had been quarrels on the platform with some tea vendors. 3.2.1-3.2.5

19. Attempted abduction of Sohiya There was also a reported incident involving attempted abduction of a Muslim girl by the Karsevaks. Ms Sophia Banu M. Shaikh, a minor girl has deposed before the Commission and has stated as under : 3.2.8

20. Attempted abduction of Sohiya Ø“the persons wearing Saffron bands came down on the Platform for tea and snacks. They took their tea and snacks and at that time one bearded person was there whom the persons wearing the saffron bands started beating for some reason. 3.2.8

21. Attempted abduction of Sohiya ØSeeing this, we got scared and we went away a little far. In the meantime one person wearing saffron band came and he covered my mouth and started dragging me towards the station. 3.2.8

22. Attempted abduction of Sohiya As I started shouting, he released me. As this incident happened, I went inside the Platform near the ticket counter. Along with me, my mother and sister also went inside. We people had become very scared because of which we postponed the idea of going to Vadodara and decided to go back to my auntie.” 3.2.8

23. THE CONFLICTS IN THE STATION   There are many such similar evidences to establish that there was indeed a scuffle between the Karsevaks and the tea vendor on the platform of Godhra station including the Karsevaks stopping a Muslim tea vendor from serving tea inside the coach S-6 and also pushing him out of the train. 3.2.9

24. Departure of Sabarmati Express Chain pulling by Karsevaks    The Guard Shri Pachuram Verma has deposed at Exh.34 that the chain was pulled after the train had left Godhra station at a short distance and the Driver had informed him in this regard. 3.3.3

25. Departure of Sabarmati Express Chain pulling by Karsevaks Guards specific statement is that- “ At 8.00 am, the train had started and at this time persons wearing safforn head and neck bands came running and boarded the train. I came to know that the chain pulling had happened because these karsevaks had not been able to get up.I did not take any action since there was a big corwd of karsevaks and I could not know who had specifically pulled the chain.” 3.3.3

26. Cont… Departure of Sabarmati Express and chain pulling by Karsevaks It is therefore quite clear that the first chain pulling was done from the train itself for the reason that some of the Karsevaks who had got down on the platform, were left out when the train started at 7.48 am. In all probability, the left out Karsevaks were those who were involved in the quarrel and scuffle with the tea vendor and because of their engagement in this activity, they did not notice starting of the Sabarmati Express. 3.3.6

27. The Conflict after the first chain pulling After the first chain-pulling, the engine stopped just outside the platform with the S6 coach near the parcel office. By this time due to the altercation in the station and specially as the news had spread that a Muslim girl had been abducted by the Karsevaks, a crowd of local Muslims gathered behind the parcel office.

28. Shri Mohan Jagdish Yadav, the RPF constable another eye witness, has deposed before the Commission as under • We saw stone throwing between the train passengers and the outside people. Some passengers were shouting slogans of Jai Shree Ram. We told those passengers to go and sit in the train and raising our sticks, we told the outsiders to go away and chased them away.

29. Shri Mohan Jagdish Yadav, the RPF constable another eye witness, has deposed before the Commission as under The passengers who were shouting and throwing stones, were passengers of two coaches. The people who were throwing stones from Signal Falia, were doing so from behind the wall and some of them were trying to jump across the wall to enter the station. 3.3.7

30. THE TRAIN RESTARTED FROM THE PARCEL OFFICE STOPPED AGAIN NEAR THE ‘A’ CABIN 3.3.7

31. The train that divided Gujarat 2.2.1

32. HOW DID THE TRAIN STOP NEAR A CABIN? THE GOVERNMENT OF GUJARAT AFTER SIX MONTHS, EXTRACTED TWO CONFESSIONS, ONE FROM ANWAR KALANDAR AND ANOTHER MUSLIM BOY, “CONFESSING” THAT THEY HAD STOPPED THE TRAIN BY BOARDING THE RUNNING TRAIN AND ROTATING THE “ALARM CHAIN DISC” FROM OUTSIDE THE TRAIN! 4.1.4

33. HOW DID THE TRAIN STOP NEAR “A” CABIN? ANWAR KALANDAR HAS HOWEVER WITHDRAWN THE CONFESSION AS IT WAS EXTRACTED UNDER TORTURE. BUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE RAILWAY HAD MODIFIED THE DESIGN OF THE ALARM CHAIN PULLING SYSTEM SINCE 1995 TO CURB THE MISUSE OF THE SYSTEM BY TICKET LESS PASSENGERS WHO USED TO JUMP OFF THE TRAIN BY ROTATING THE DISC FROM OUTSIDE AND STOPPING THE TRAIN OUTSIDE THE PLATFORM. THIS FACT HAD ESCAPED THE ATTENTION OF THE GUJARAT POLICE WHILE EXTRACTING THE CONFESSION FROM ANWAR! 4.1.4

34. 4.1.4

35. HOW DID THE TRAIN STOP NEAR A CABIN? On enquiry with the railway authorities it is learnt that all the 18 coaches of the Sabarmati Express that had arrived at Godhra on 27/2/2002 had the modified alarm chain system and therefore, the vacuum brakes could not be activated by turning the alarm disk from outside since the connecting rod is bifurcated as per the new design. The ACP could be effected only from inside the coaches and corrected from outside. 4.1.5

36. The bifurcated rod of alarm disc of S6 4.1.5

37. The bifurcated rod of alarm disc of S6 4.1.5

38. HOW DID THE TRAIN STOP NEAR A CABIN? The Guard Shri Verma has admitted that he along with Shri Mukesh Pachhori had corrected the chain pulling of the coach nos. 83101, 5343, 91263 and 88238 when the karsevaks had pulled the chain. Thus from the clear statements made by both the Guard as well as the Asst. Driver, on that day they had set right the ACP in four coaches. In this view of the matter, the ACP which was noticed by Shri Harimohan Meena from coach no. 90238 was not corrected. 4.2.1

39. Setting right the ACP and departure of the train after first ACP In practice, railway employees have to physically rotate the alarm disk to reset the Clappet valve. In the instant case as the facts point out, the first chain pulling was done from 5 coaches, whereas the ACP was put right in four coaches thereby leaving one Clappet valve uncorrected..The Driver therefore dragged the train upto A cabin and could not go farther! 4.2.4

40. A Cabin

41. What did the Assistant Station Master see from “A” Cabin Shri Rajendraprasad Misrilal Mina, the Assistant Station Master, who was an eye witness deposed as under: “On 27-2-2002 I was on duty as Assistant Station Master at `A’ cabin of Godhra railway station from 12 at night to morning upto 8.00 am. 4.3.1

42. Cont…What did the Assistant Station Master see from “A” Cabin Sabarmati Express train arrived at Godhra railway station at 7.43 am. Since the line was clear, departure signal was given at 7.45 am. The train started at 7.48 am. After some time the train stopped by blowing the whistle. I could see from the cabin that the train had stopped. At that time no crowd was seen between `A’ cabin and the train. 4.3.1

43. Cont…What did the Assistant Station Master see from “A” Cabin When the train started again I looked at the clock in the cabin and the time was 7.55 am. When the train reached near the cabin I was standing near window of the cabin for showing `alright’ signal. When the train arrived at `A’ cabin, the engine was blowing the whistle indicating chain pulling. 4.3.1

44. Cont…What did the Assistant Station Master see from “A” Cabin The period between the restarting of the train and its arrival at ‘A’ cabin would have been around 5 to 6 minutes. I did not see any crowd at that time. It was about 8 O’clock when the train had stopped. 4.3.1

45. Cont…What did the Assistant Station Master see from “A” Cabin When the train was moving with slow speed I had seen a crowd running towards and alongwith the train. When I got down from the cabin, at that time some people from the crowd had come near the cabin. Few persons from the mob were throwing stones on the train... 4.3.1

46. Cont…What did the Assistant Station Master see from “A” Cabin The mob did not arrive together but ten to fifteen persons were coming and gathering....There were women and children also in the mob. I did not see personally as to who set the fire and how. “” 4.3.1

47. WHAT DID THE DSP PANCMAHAL, SHRI RAJU BHARGAV SEE INSIDE S6 COACH • Shri Raju Bishankumar Bhargava, Police Superintendent of Godhra, deposition before the commission is very important to understand the severity of the fire and the spped of its spread: He said that he had reached the burning coach at about 8.30 a.m. Cont…. 5.1.14

48. WHAT DID THE DSP PANCMAHAL, SHRI RAJU BHARGAV SEE INSIDE S6 COACH • He had seen people with black faces and with some burn injuries on the head, coming out of the coach.... seen ten to twelve passengers coming out of that coach.... They were coming out of the door on the Godhra side.... The injuries which he noticed on the passengers were on the upper part of their bodies.... he had not noticed any injury below their waist portion. 5.1.14

49. WHAT DID THE DSP PANCMAHAL, SHRI RAJU BHARGAV SEE INSIDE S6 COACH • Raju Bhargav said that he had not seen any raising of flames in the area of that coach which I could see from the door. I had seen only smoke in that area....I had not noticed any flames on the floor of the area between the two doors. I had also not smelt any inflammable fuel like petrol kerosene, diesel etc. 5.1.15

50. Injured people