The godhra decision is very disturbing. The All India Democratic Women's Association had given a report on the riots in March 2002 itself. I would like to share some of our findings :

On that fateful journey, the kar sewaks were extremely aggressive because they were ordered to leave Ayodhya by the Supreme Court;

They attacked Muslims all along the way  - 2 men at a railway crossing just outside Faizabad, one of whom died;

Muslim families on the train and on rly station platforms;

There was the incident at Godhra station itself involving molestation of a Muslim girl and a tea vendor

This did enrage people living next to the station

BUT an All India Democratic Womens Association delegation of which I was a member visited Godhra on March 9 and the carriages were standing on the track at Godhra stn.

We saw: kerosene stoves, spilt oil, sacks of grain. Also we saw signs of a fire that had raged inside the compartment - burnt seats, mangled steel bars etc AND NO marks of burning outside the carriage.

It seems that angry people probably came towards the compartment and the people inside closed all the windows with tragic results.

Whatever the court may say, AIDWA stands by its report.

Subhashini Ali