Lagatar24 Desk
Godhra, July 3: A culprit in the 2002 Godhra train burning case which murdered 59 ‘karsevaks’ and caused the worst riots in Gujarati history, was given a life sentence by a Godhra court.
Rafik Bhatuk, who was detained in February 2021, was given a life sentence on Saturday by a court of an additional sessions judge in Godhra, Gujarat’s Panchmahal district.
After his arrest last year, the trial against him in the case started. He was charged with involvement in the February 27, 2002, torching of a train carrying ‘karsevaks’ returning from Ayodhya, which resulted in the deaths of 59 of them. This sparked communal unrest in the state, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,200 people—mostly members of a minority population.
According to special public prosecutor RC Kodekar, Bhatuk is the 35th defendant to have been found guilty by the court in the case thus far.
In February of last year, Bhatuk was taken into custody by a Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Panchmahal police in a neighbourhood in Godhra town. After being named a suspect in the case, he fled Godhra and resided in a number of towns before coming back to this one.
