Godhra carnage judgement postponed till February 22

Ahmedabad, Feb 17 (PTI) The judgement on the Godhratrain carnage case that triggered massive communal riots inGujarat in 2002 will now be pronounced on February 22, courtofficials said today.

Designated Judge P R Patel who completed hearing thearguments of the prosecution and the defence in September lastyear has postponed the pronouncement of judgement on thesensitive case to February 22.

Last month, he said that the verdict in the case wouldbe pronounced on February 19.

After completion of the hearing, in September lastyear, the pronouncement could not happen as there was aSupreme Court stay on the pronouncement of judgement. Thisstay was lifted on October 26, 2010.

The trial was conducted inside the Sabarmati Centraljail here, against 94 accused. It began in June 2009 withthe framing of the charges against the accused who have beenin Sabarmati jail since 2002.

All the accused in the case have been charged forcriminal conspiracy and murder for burning the S-6 coach ofthe Sabarmati Express train near Godhra railway station onFebruary 27, 2002 in which 58 people, mostly karsevaksreturning from Ayodhya, were killed.

Following the incident, widespread communal riotsbroke out in different parts of the state in which over 1,000people were killed.