Families of Godhra accused fight for survival

Godhra, Feb 25 (UNI) The recent Supreme Court ruling granting liberty to all those booked under POTA to move their bail applications directly to the apex court, has brought a ray of hope for families of 99 accused in the February 27, 2002 Sabarmati Express carnage here that claimed 59 lives and triggered the worst ever communal riots in Gujarat.

Soon after the news of the ruling spread, several Muslim clerics, lawyers and community leaders reportedly held a meeting here to chalk out a strategy for moving bail applications of all the accused in the Supreme Court.

The accused were arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Gujarat police.

Most of the families, many of whom are living in and around the town, are struggling to survive with no source of income and assistance. They are confident their kins languishing in Sabarmati jail would be freed from the charges of burning the train.

The last five years have been difficult for 75-year-old widow Shugrah Abdullah Badam whose all four sons --Siddiq, Hanif, Saukat and Bilal-- were arrested from her Polan Bazar residence within four days of the train carnage and later booked under POTA for their alleged involvement in the heinous crime.

''My children are innocent. Since we have no source of income, the families of all my four sons have been left in the lurch.

Maulana Hussain Umarji, who had opened relief camps, was picked up and later branded as prime conspirator for the train fire,'' she said.

Similarly, 65-year-old Mohammad Abdul Sattar's blind, eldest son Isaq Mamdu was arrested a few hours after the train carnage from Lalbaug bus stand and booked under POTA for being in the mob that torched the S-6 coach.

Sattar, living in the predominantly Muslim locality of Jahurpura, said ''Though my child was born blind and issued a certificate by the Gujarat government... he was not granted parole even when his mother died on December 7, 2002.'' Altogether 14 youths were arrested from the minority inhabited Rahmatnagar village, located on the outskirts here, in the evening of the Godhra train attack, on train torching charges.

The arrested included a key accused Jabbir Bin Yamin Behra and his two brothers, Ramjani and Habib. It may be recalled that on the basis of Jabbir's confessional statement recorded on February 5, 2003, SIT claimed the attack on the train was part of a well-planned conspiracy and named Maulana Umarji, as the mastermind behind the carnage.

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