Although the removal of POTA charges from the Godhra train carnage case following a Supreme Court verdict has brought relief for the accused, the case is still stuck where it was six years ago after the Sabarmati Express train was set ablaze at the Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002.

Trial in the case, in which 133 persons were made accused, is yet to start. As many as 17 absconders are yet to be nabbed and bail applications of most of the 82 accused are still pending in the Supreme Court. Also, the five accused who died in judicial custody will never know what the court had in store for them.

“So many related cases have sprung out of the Godhra case that the original case itself has seen no progress at all. The position of the accused is the same as it was in 2002 when most of them were arrested,” says advocate S H Iyer, who represents some of the accused in the case.

The case has been shuttling between different courts. Hearing in the case was first held before the Sessions Court, Godhra. Then the case was sent to the designated POTA court in Ahmedabad. After that, the case was sent to the Gujarat High Court, and from there to the Supreme Court.

On March 7, 2003, the Gujarat Government had set up a Special POTA Court in Ahmedabad, and the Godhra case was rechristened as POTA case no. 1. Around the same time, a State Level Committee (SLC), a mandatory body under POTA, was formed to hear representations made by the accused. But before the SLC could pronounce its decision, POTA was repealed by the Central Government on October 21, 2004. This resulted in the dissolution of the SLC.

... contd.