Godhra train burning

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The Godhra train burning occurred on the morning of 27 February 2002, when 59 Hindu pilgrims and karsevaks (religious volunteers) returning from Ayodhya were killed in a fire inside the Sabarmati Express near the Godhra railway station in Gujarat, India. The cause of the fire remains disputed. The Gujarat riots, during which Muslims were the targets of widespread and severe violence, took place shortly afterward. The Nanavati-Mehta Commission, appointed by the state government in the immediate aftermath of the event, concluded in 2008 that the burning was a pre-planned act of arson committed by a thousand-strong Muslim mob. In contrast, the Banerjee Commission, a one-member panel instituted in 2004 by then Rail Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Ministry of Railways, characterized the fire as an accident in its 2006 report. However, the Gujarat High Court later ruled that the commission's appointment was unconstitutional and quashed all its findings. An independent investigation by a non-governmental organization also supported the theory that the fire was accidental. Scholars remain skeptical about the claims of arson. In February 2011, the trial court convicted 31 Muslims for the train burning, relying heavily on the Nanavati-Mehta Commission report as evidence. In October 2017, the Gujarat High Court upheld the convictions.