http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4180885.stm
The fire at Godhra triggered days of rioting
An Indian train fire that killed 59 Hindus and
provoked deadly religious riots in 2002 was started by
accident, a government inquiry has said.
Evidence suggests the fire began inside the train, not
that it was fire-bombed, an investigating judge
decided.
Most accounts from the time and since said a Muslim
mob threw petrol bombs at the train, starting the
blaze.
The incident set off days of rioting in Gujarat state
in which at least 1,000 people, most of them
Muslims,died.
Since the train fire, state police have arrested more
than 100 Muslims in connection with the incident.
About 75 of them remain on remand awaiting trial. No
one has been convicted over the train fire.
Both Gujarat's inspector-general of police and India's
main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) were swift to dismiss the inquiry
findings.
'Preponderance of evidence'
The Hindus aboard the train were returning from the
holy town of Ayodhya when they perished in the blaze
at Godhra.
The incident triggered acts of revenge which swept the
state for days. Some estimates put the number of
people killed in the slaughter at 2,000.
Gujarat's state authorities say Muslims torched the
train.
Survivor accounts speak of a stone-throwing mob
attacking the train. But doubts have persisted over
how the fire started.
Retired Supreme Court judge Umesh Chandra Banerjee,
who is leading the government inquiry, dismissed
suggestions that inflammable liquid could have been
thrown at the train from outside.
"There has been a preponderance of evidence that the
fire in coach number S6 originated in the coach itself
without any external input," he said.
"The possibility of an inflammable liquid having been
used is completely ruled out as there was first a
smell of burning, followed by then smoke and flames
thereafter."
Justice Banerjee said that according to eyewitness
accounts people had been cooking in the carriage at
the time it caught fire.
He said the railway authorities had "pre-judged" the
incident, and criticised them for not conducting a
thorough inquiry.
'Politically motivated'
Justice Banerjee's investigation was set up by the
Congress party-led government last summer after it won
general elections in India.
The BJP, which was in power nationally and in Gujarat
at the time of the riots, said the inquiry findings
were "politically motivated".
Calling the report a disgrace, a spokesman said it was
an unfortunate attempt to trivialise what he called
one of the worst crimes in India.
Gujarat's inspector-general of police, Rakesh Asthana,
also challenged the inquiry report.
He told the BBC the fire was an act of conspiracy and
that at least 60 litres of petrol had been poured
inside the compartment before burning rags were thrown
in from outside.
He said forensic scientists in Gujarat backed the
police findings.
The BJP and its chief minister in Gujarat, Narendra
Modi, were criticised for not doing enough to restore
order once the violence had begun.
Police were alleged to have simply refused to
intervene or, in many cases, arrived too late to
prevent attacks.
Only a handful of people have been found guilty in
riot-related cases.
In 2003 the Supreme Court castigated the authorities
for not delivering justice to victims. It has since
moved one of the highest-profile riot court cases out
of the state.
The riots were viewed by many as a serious challenge
to India's record in protecting its minorities and
left many Muslims feeling deeply insecure
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