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Journalism of Courage
The sessions court of the Panchmahals district at Godhra on Friday acquitted nine persons accused of being part of a mob that attacked Godhra Railway police on the morning of February 27, 2002, with an intention to free 15 persons, allegedly arrested by police for the attack on the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express, in which 58 persons were killed.
Police had arrested 11 persons in the case. While two of them died during the pendency of the trial, the remaining nine were acquitted by the court on Friday.
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The acquitted persons had spent 10 months in jail after their arrest and before they were released on regular bail by HC. They faced various criminal charges that included attempt to murder under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, ;the Railways Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
The intention of the mob, as per the chargesheet, was to release the 15 persons who were among the first to be arrested by the railway police for the Godhra train carnage case in the morning of the incident.
One of the defence lawyers in the case, A A Hasan, who had also appeared as a defence lawyer in the Godhra train carnage case, said the main ground of the acquittal was that the prosecution case regarding the arrest of 15 persons on the morning of the incident could not be established by the public prosecutor.
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