Godhra case: Govt says law will take its own course

New Delhi, Feb 22 (PTI) Government today reactedcautiously to the special court''s verdict on the Godhra trainburning case, saying the law will take its own course.

"The courts of law will take their own course...thereare processes involved because definitely there will be anappeal filed in the High Court. Therefore, it is premature tocomment on this," Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told reportershere.

He said it was necessary that the guilty behind theincident are punished. "Of course nobody can block the processof the courts of justice," he said.

Asked to react on the acquittal of main conspiratorSyed Hassan Umarji, Moily said as a Law Minister he could notcomment on the judgement of a sessions court.

"If there is any case, it is for the High Court tointerfere, not for me," he said.

Asked to comment on the arrangements made by theGujarat government to ensure peace against the backdrop of theverdict, Moily said there was nothing to compliment the stategovernment about. "It is the creation of the state governmentitself," he quipped.

31 people were convicted by a special court inAhmedabad in the Godhra train burning case while 63 otherswere acquitted.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said he would not like tosay anything on the issue before going through the judgement.

Minorities Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid it wasimportant to understand the "reasoning" behind the judgement.

"How can we say the verdict is good or bad withoutunderstanding the reasoning," he said.

He, however, added that the series of eventssurrounding the incident have often raised question marks onthe level of confidence in the state government.

"Only time will tell whether the verdict will helpincrease the level of confidence," he said.