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'Godhra judgement should pass by peacefully'

February 22, 2011 02:52 IST

"The mood of the nation is sober. If we can take the Ayodhya judgment in our stride, we can very well pass through the Godhra judgment peacefully. I am very confident." says Kamal Farooqui, member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

He said, " There is no two opinion that Muslims of India as much as Hindus want to see that justice being given to the 59 innocent Indians that died on Sabramati train in 2002. If it's done by Muslims they should be punished. The system and civil society should do everything to see that family of victims of karsevaks get satisfaction from the legal system."

The event of burning of train in Godhra and the communal riots that followed has changed the public discourse in India. The judgment of  special court assumes significance.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta , president of Centre for Policy Research and lucid thinker on contemporary India told rediff.com,

"The whole chain of events in Gujarat has been important watershed in India."

Many experts claim that even though CM Narendra Modi has won successive elections, he hasn't shaken off the  bloodshed that followed because Godhra happened.

Mehta says that, " The most important is to see not only how justice is done but justice must seem to be done. People will wait to see the logic of justice done. Only then, the healing process would begin."

The court cases related to the event at Godhra and the horrific communal riots that followed have been fought passionately in courts. Farooqui says, " As we want justice for 59 people who died in Godhra, we also want the justice for people who died in Godhra's aftermath. We want to know from the court, what the role of CM Narendra Modi was? Indian Muslims hope that justice will be given to them also."

Sheela Bhatt in Ahmedabad