Godhra attack accused, later acquitted, he ‘never got over his jail term’

Umarji's bail pleas were turned down by the POTA court, the Gujarat High Court, and the Supreme Court, before he was finally acquitted by a special court in Ahmedabad.

Some time before he was taken into custody, Umarji had received a letter from the Panchmahals collector handing him the management of a government-sponsored riots relief camp, said A A Hasan, his defence counsel.

"Maulana Umarji had organised a relief camp in Godhra for riot victims even before the government organised its own camp. He would passionately discuss community problems and try to resolve them in his own way," Hasan said.

"He was the first person to set up a relief camp after the devastating Kutch earthquakes of 2001," said Firdous Kothi, president of the Ghanchi Muslim community in Panchmahals.

Salluddin Gurji, a riot victim from a village in Morva Hadaf near Godhra, recalled Umarji's work at a camp. "Military personnel took us to Godhra. The district administration did not know how to deal with us, so asked religious leaders to organise relief camps. Umarji passionately took up the cause," he said.

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