Empuraan, with its gimmicky violence and vigilante posturing, is not out to widen your perspective or open up history. All it wants to do is pick your pockets, observes Sreehari Nair.
The Supreme Court on Friday said it will hear on March 24 the appeal of the Gujarat government and the bail pleas of several accused who are serving life imprisonment in the 2002 Godhra train burning case.
'There are films, documentaries and reportage on the Internet regarding the Godhra riots. But whether the Sabarmati Express burned in an accident or a planned attack, what was the truth?'
Taking a cue from judicial precedent of Gujarat's Godhra riots cases, a Delhi court on Tuesday ordered separation of trial of accused on the ground of their faith in a murder of a 24-year-old man during the north-east Delhi communal riots, saying there was an "assortment" of undertrials and one trial would prejudice their defence as they belong to Hindu and Muslim religions.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan also rejected the application for listing review petition in open court.
Twenty years after the burning of a train in Godhra killed 59 'karsevaks' and triggered one of India's worst post-Partition riots, the poll-scape reflects the yawning gulf between the two communities.
Nanavati was appointed as judge of the Supreme Court with effect from March 6, 1995, and retired on February 16, 2000.
The Sabarmati Report is so flimsy in its execution, taking offence to it would be dignifying its existence, notes Sukanya Verma.
An accused in Sabarmati Express train burning incident who was absconding since 2002 was arrested by the Godhra Local Crime Branch (LCB) in Gujarat's Panchmahal district on Friday, police said.
With the arrest of Dixit Patel, owner of Jay Jalaram School situated near Godhra in Panchmahal district, the number of persons arrested so far- five of them were held by Gujarat Police- has gone up to six.
A special CBI court in Godhra on Saturday granted the probe agency four-day custody of Jay Jalaram School's principal Purushottam Sharma, teacher Tushar Bhatt, and middlemen Vibhor Anand and Arif Vohra, all of whom are alleged to be involved in irregularities in the May 5 NEET-UG exam in Godhra.
The Nagpur violence may have been prevented had the police considered the dangerous potential of the VHP/Bajrang Dal's demonstration; had they immediately stopped the burning of the chaddar and arrested the demonstrators; and had they fanned out to counter the rumours that spread among Muslims, observes Jyoti Punwani.
Witches and westerns, goosebumps and goldfish, it's all there on OTT this week.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday made its first arrests in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) paper leak case, taking two people in custody in Patna while three candidates in Gujarat who had allegedly solicited help to clear the exam recorded their statements with the probe agency, officials said.
"Before the BJP came into existence, its forerunners Jan Sangh and RSS had opposed Babasaheb while the Constitution was being adopted," Prakash Ambedkar, who heads Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, told reporters in Pune.
'Joined fellow NDA MPs at a screening of The Sabarmati Report. I commend the makers of the film for their effort.'
For relatives of many kar sevaks who were killed in the Sabarmati Express coach fire incident in Gujarat's Godhra in 2002, the 'bhoomi pujan' for a Ram temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday brought a sense of closure to the pains of losing their near and dear ones for the cause of the temple.
Convict Pradip Modhiya, a resident of Dahod district, has been released from Godhra district jail on parole due to the death of his father-in-law.
Jarda, who was arrested in Rajasthan in June, was granted bail for two days by a special POTA court to attend a religious ceremony at his home in Godhra town.
Pataliya was arrested by the Godhra Police in January 2018, nearly 16 years after being booked in connection with the incident in which 59 'karsevaks' were burnt alive in two coaches of the Sabarmati Express.
Rameshbhai Chandana approached the high court on Friday with a plea to be released on parole to attend his niece's wedding.
The Delhi assembly results have underscored that a section of Arvind Kejriwal's committed supporters abandoned him because they were let down by his refusal to take a stand on crucial issues that impinge on the security and Constitutionally enshrined rights of the people, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Congress refused to comment on the special court's verdict on Godhra train burning case but sharpened its attack against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi holding him resposible for post-Godhra communal riots in the state which claimed over 1,200 lives.
The chronology of the case related to the 2002 Godhra train carnage and the communal violence that followed the incident.
The trial of one of the most controversial legal cases of independent India went on for more than 18 months. Many non-government organisations and accused had objected to the conduct of the trial in Gujarat. Almost, every legal point of the case had been challenged in court.
Ibrahim Abdul Razzaq Samol alias Bhano was arrested from a house in Vachala Odha area of Godhra town on Wednesday night.
These five men were apprehended in 2015-2016 and the trial was held at a special court set up at the Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad.
Salim Zarda had escaped from police custody from Godhra town on October 13, 2004.
The Special Investigation Team formed by the Supreme Court to inquire into the post-Godhra riot cases has decided to seek an extension, SIT chairman and ex-Central Bureau of Investigation chief R Raghavan said in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Congress candidate C K Raul defeated Bharatiya Janata Party nominee and state minister Prabhat Sinh Chauhan in Godhra by 14,500 votes.
Their clarification came after some media reports said an unused railway coach was on Sunday set ablaze at Pratapnagar station in Vadodara during the enactment of the Godhra train burning incident.
The Godhra case is related to burning of Sabramati Express's compartment C-6 at Godhra on February 27, 2002 in which 59 people were burnt alive.
Terming the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat as "unfortunate", the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said the Narendra Modi government had taken "strong" steps to deal with the situation due to which such incidents have not recurred in the state. "As far as Modi is concerned, we consider the Godhra incident unfortunate and what followed afterwards in reaction to it -- we consider that also as unfortunate," BJP national general secretary Murlidhar Rao told reporters.
An ATS official said that Farooq Mohammad Bhana was one of the key accused, who hatched the conspiracy to burn the train at Godhra Railway Station on February 27, 2002.
'All the convicts must be either hanged for or they must be kept behind bars for the remainder of their lives. Only then justice will be served'
Following is the list of those convicted by the special court in the Godhra train burning case on Tuesday:
The former president of Godhra municipality and was granted interim bail by a special POTA court in Ahmedabad on May 21, after his wife, Haseena, moved an application seeking a six-day bail for him.
Over 50 people, mostly pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, were burnt alive in two bogies of Sabarmati Express in Godhra in February 2002.
