Gujarat riots: Forensic report says Muslims did not torch train

By: Nizam Hussain

NEW DELHI, India: India's new government has ordered a fresh probe into the 2002 burning to death of 59 Hindus in a train in western Gujarat state that triggered deadly religious violence leading to the killings of at least 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.

Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav told parliament he was ordering a high-level departmental inquiry into the incident. He said the committee would probe whether the blaze February 27, 2002 was caused by a short-circuit or by some inflammable material.

The inquiry would be completed in three months, he said.

Yadav said according to a forensic report, there was evidence the fire was caused by inflammable material inside the compartment.

The finding would contradict an earlier probe by Gujarat police that concluded the train was set alight by a Muslim mob outside the train compartment, killing the Hindus.

The event provoked religious riots in Gujarat in which at least 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, died. Muslims were burnt alive and their houses and businesses were torched. The riots were among the worst since India's independence in 1947.

Yadav said the forensic report does not suggest that any inflammable substance was thrown into the train coach.

The BJP which was in power at the national level at the time of the train burning was accused by opposition critics of failing to take swift action to stop the violence.

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