POTA not applicable in Godhra train burning case: Gujarat HC

By RINA,

New Delhi: Gujarat High Court verdict vindicating revocation of POTA in Godhra train incineration case has jolted Narender Modi government. The court has upheld the POTA Review Committee’s recommendation to lift POTA enforced against the accused the train carnage accused.

Union government had formed a central POTA review committee to study the nature of Godhra train incineration case. In its report submitted on May 16, 2008, the committee recommended revocation of POTA on the plea that no such crime was found related to the accused that would justify the invocation of the draconian law. Following committee’s observation, a Gujarat resident had filed a petition in Gujarat High Court against which Narender Modi government had appealed.

Adjudicating the case, the Gujarat High Court bench, comprising Justice Bhagwati Prasad and Bankim Mehta, yesterday instructed the state government to lift POTA against those accused. “POTA is being lifted from the accused because no concrete proof could be found against them showing that train incineration was a part of any planned terrorism,” observed the court. Fierce communal riots had erupted all over Gujarat following incineration of Sabarmati Express train in Godhara in which 59 Karsewaks were burnt alive in February 2002.

Gujarat government had requested six months’ time to go to Supreme Court but the court allowed only fifteen days’ time, failing which POTA cases against the accused will lapse and only CrPC will be applied against them.