A special court on February 22, 2011, ruled that the burning of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra was a conspiracy, finding 31 people guilty and acquitting 68 others. Sentencing for this crime has yet to take place. After this, the matter will probably go to the High Court and a long legal process will continue beyond that. The problem is that so much attention has been paid to the Godhra fire incident and the Gujarat riots that followed.Politics has become so prevalent that the fire of disputes will not be extinguished through the judicial process. The fog over this issue has not cleared in the last nine years. Even when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Railway Minister, the judicial commission headed by Justice Banerjee found the arguments of the state government wrong and the state government formed a commission headed by Justice Nanavati, which ruled in favor of the state government. The Supreme Court also intervened in this matter several timesPolitics has become so prevalent that the fire of disputes will not be extinguished through the judicial process. The fog over this issue has not cleared in the last nine years. Even when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Railway Minister, the judicial commission headed by Justice Banerjee found the arguments of the state government wrong and the state government formed a commission headed by Justice Nanavati, which ruled in favor of the state government. The Supreme Court also intervened in this matter several timesAnd generally the Indian Judiciary has such credibility that its important decisions are not often questioned, but this question can come from the minority community that the investigation of Godhra incident was done with as much agility as the Government of Gujarat did. Why were the riots that followed not investigated? Not from the judiciary, but from the state governmentThe complaint may be from minorities and this stain will remain on Narendra Modi's government. The real maturity of our democracy will be evident only when all the institutions of democracy will work impartially in such matters and the citizens will also be confident that they will get real justice from these in
stitutions.An incident like Godhra is a heinous crime and its criminals must be punished, and efforts are also necessary to eliminate the poison of communalism from the society so that such crimes do not happen. Minority and majority communalism derive inspiration and strength from each other; those who believe in democracy should try to root them out.
It is important that after this decision, whatever legal process is followed, it should be carried out and no kind of politics should be done on this issue. The cycle of communal disharmony that has started from Godhra in the last nine years has created a lot of bitterness and violent reaction in the society. This decision should be accepted neutrally as a legal decision and not as a victory of one community or defeat of another community. It is true that the culprits of this entire incident should be punished.Getting married is a long and necessary process, but equally important is the process of healing the wounds.