Account of a 16-year-old survivor
Posted on May 22, 2008 - Filed Under 01 - The Godhra Carnage |
On the 27th February, the Ahmedabad bound Sabarmati Express, carrying karsevaks from Ayodhya was barbarously attacked and burnt at Godhra in which around 60 karsevaks laid their lives. Gayatri Panchal a young eleventh class student was also amongst those who were returning from Ayodhya. She is a surviving witness to the inhuman atrocious cruelty in which right in front of her eyes two of her sisters and parents were burnt alive.
Harshadbhai Panchal, a resident of Ramol, left for karseva at Ayodhya on the 22nd February, together with his wife Neetaben and three daughters, Pratiksha, Chhaya and Gayatri. His sister in law, her son, her neighbour Poojaben and her would be husband were also accompanying him.
All of them were returning to Ahmedabad along with several other karsevaks. Harshadbhai and his family, Poojaben and her husband were in one compartment. While his sister in law and her husband and their son were in another compartment. The only survivor out of these ten, Gayatri, says about this horrible event that, “On the 27th morning, at around 8 a.m. the train left Godhra Station. The karsevaks were loudly chanting the Ram Dhoon. The train had hardly gone ½ Km., when it suddenly stopped. Somebody had perhaps pulled the chain to stop the train. Before anybody could know what had happened, we saw a huge mob approaching the train. People were carrying weapons like Gupti, Sphere, Swords and such other deadly weapons in their hands and were throwing stones at the train. We all got frightened and some how closed the windows and the doors of the compartment. People outside were shouting loudly, saying “Maro, Kato” and were attacking the train. A loudspeaker from the Masjid close by was also very loudly shouting “Maro, Kato, Laden na dushmano ne Maro.” These attackers were so fierce that they managed to break the windows and close the doors from outside before pouring petrol inside and setting the compartment on fire so that nobody could escape alive. A number of attackers entered the compartment and were beating the karsevaks and looting their belongings. The compartments were drenched in petrol all over. We were terrified and were shouting for help but who was there to help us? A few policemen were later seen approaching the compartment but they were also whisked away by the furious mob outside. There was so much of smoke in the compartment that we were unable to see each other and also getting suffocated. Going out was too difficult, however myself and Pooja some how managed to jump out through the windows. Pooja was hurt in her back and was unable to stand up. People outside were trying to hold us to take us away but we could escape and run under the burning train and succeeded in crawling towards the cabin. I have seen my parents and sisters being burnt alive right in front of my eyes.” Luckily, by the grace of God, Gayatri was not hurt too badly. “We somehow managed to go up to the station and meet our aunty (Masi). After the compartments were completely burnt the crowd started withering. We saw that even amongst them were men, women and youngsters like us both male as well as female. I returned here after evacuating the dead bodies of my family members at Godhra Station. Out of 18 of us ten had laid their lives.”
Gayatri’s father was a carpenter whereas her mother worked in the Madhyanha Bhojana Yojna (i.e. Mid-day meal scheme), her elder sister Pratiksha was serving in the Collectorate.
In spite of what had happened, Gayatri still feels that she would any time once again venture to go for karseva. She says, “I shall not allow the sacrifice of my parents to go in vein.”
(Source: VSK, Gujarat and various English dailies- such as The Indian Express- 28 Feb 2002)
Among some details of the brutality, an event that reveals the killing of a Dalit karsevak in the Godhra massacre is worth reproducing. [3]The burning of innocent karsevaks alive was an event that made one’s hair stand erect. Umakant Govindbhai of Saijpur was 25 years of age and working in the Collector’s Office. On 27th February Umakant was in S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express. A mob of 2000 Muslims swarmed on this coach with Petrol cans, stones and sticks. They first threw stones on it and as the doors and windows were closed, threw petrol and set the entire coach on fire. Umakant, who was trying to break the closed door and get away, was pelted with stones by them and pushed with the bamboos inside the coach.
This sort of massacre was not seen anywhere in independent India. Nor could this compare with any other event- such as the murder of Indira Gandhi, or the post-Godhra riots, or any of the brutal murders of the opponents of the CPI (M) in Kannur district of Kerala. The terrorist attack on the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar or various other temples in India or deadly bomb blasts in various places could, in no way, compare with this horrific massacre.
Godhra was by no means an act of terrorism. Most right-thinking people claim so, from the Nanavati Commission, to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. But terrorism is completely different. The terror is temporary, the pain is momentary. Indira Gandhi was done to death by a couple of bullets. It was a natural case of murder, albeit of a Prime Minister. Ordinary murders occurring anywhere are mostly the result of stabbing or bullet shots.
But Godhra was not that. It was much worse. It was an act of communalism and not real terrorism. ‘Terrorists have no religion’ is a statement parroted many times in the media by many people. But Godhra was not done by 1 or 2 terrorists. It was done by a mob, a mass mob of more than two thousand people, ordinary people, not terrorists undergone training in training camps. Not terrorists armed with AK 47, AK 56 rifles or grenades. They were locals, not foreigners. The local Muslims did the barbaric, communal and criminal act of Godhra.
@ Deepak, I will always come back to respond to you. It is Mohit Sharma who has decided not to reply to you- not me. Even if you are convinced that we two are the same person, the reality is different.
Ramesh Mantri, Canberra
Media/newspaper/Dailies ONLY REPORT WHAT OFFICIALS PROVIDE THEM.
DURING RIOTS, NO FOREIGN NEWSPAPER WAS COVERING THE RIOTS.
REMEMBER, THE GUJARAT LOCAL DAILES REPORTED ON FEB 28 THAT HINDU WOMEN WERE ABDUCTED , RAPED AND THEIR BREAST CUT OFF, for the sole purpose to incite mobs. And weeks after riots, they gave an publishing in one corner of the newspaper saying no such report was confirmed.
So please bare me the so called evidence that comes from any source is GUJARAT GOVT/ GUJARAT MEDIA AND GUJARATI COMMUNITY.
They are all anti-muslim, and would do anything to remain in power.
I am not saying that this girl is a liar, but that does not mean every world she is saying is hard lines truth. She could easily be fabricated…
Biggest proof of fabrication in the whole system is AMIT SHAH’S case, who is now clearly in good grip of LAW which proves that gujarat politicians, beaurocracy and extremist hindu groups will do anything to serve their purpose.
Like MODI kept silent and first let godhra happen, and then the real motive of riots happened, which got him rule in state for 3 times..
Just ask yoursefl, same person who is so famous in GUJARAT, is treated like a criminal in rest of india and wordwide?/ do hindus of rest of India don;t want a leader like MODI??
Because they are not carried away by his cheap game of communal divide and rule. This is the only reason hindu in gujarat support him, because he has created an environment fuill of fear and death, so they have to support his goverment or fear more riots…
OYE MANTRI, TU KYA RESPOND NAHI KAREGA MUJHE SAALE, JO INSAAN EK 16 SAAL KI LADKI KI STORY KE LIYE ITNA DUKHI HAI MAGAR HAZARON AUR BACCHE, AURATEIN AUR AADMI JO MAREIN, UNKE LIYE KUCH NAHI BOLTA, WO SABSE BADA KAMINA AUR PATHETIC INSAAN HAI.
The pain you are showing for one hindu girl, try to show 1 % of that towards victims of GENOCIDE THAT followed godbhra and then we will see your real sympathy for DEATH OF INNOCENT PEOPLE!!
And this girl’s statements were recorded THE SAME DAY 27 FEB NOT THE NEXT DAY. IDIOT BRAINLESS SADIST, the english dailies the next day reported this, including ultra anti-BJP ones in the foreign media.
MODEARTORS DELETE THE COMMENTS INSULTING THIS GIRL WHO SPENT MONTHS IN SHOCK AFTERWARDS or I will come after you as well.
Bye Bye Deepak, you idiot, I wont respond to a sadist like you again…
A foreign daily Portsmouth Herald reported-
“Sixteen-year-old Gayatri Panchal saw her mother, father and two sisters die before her eyes in the train fire as they returned home after participating in a religious ceremony at Ayodhya.
“We were sleeping and I opened my eyes when I felt the heat. I saw flames everywhere. My mother was in flames, her clothes were on fire,” she said. “Someone pulled me out of the compartment and then I saw my father’s body being taken out. He was covered in black. Then I fainted.””
URL: http://seacoastauction.com/2002news/2_28_w2.htm
THATS ALL SAALA DEEPAK HARAAMI. MAY YOU SUFFER 100 TIMES WORSE THAN THIS POOR 16 YEAR OLD GIRL DID. TALKING TO A FOOL FOUL MOUTHED HATE-FILLED INHUMAN BARBERER IS FOOLISHNESS IN ITSELF.
so this 16 year old girl gave her statement to who?/ THE GUJARAT POLICE I am assuming??
Well enough said…
If GUJARAT POLICE and GUJARAT HIGH COURT JUSDGES cannot be trusted for their duty, why would anyone belive that the statements by this girl were infact recorded the very next day?
They have manipulated FIRs, removed evidence and even fabricated deaths to show that thesenwere infact communal riots and not GENOCIDE.
GUJARAT GOVERNMENT, GUJARAT POLICE AND GUJJU PATELS are all chhakkas and slave to sick hindu extremist ideology that gets its rootas from NAZI GERMAN leaders who tried to clean GERMANY once…
Well I have realized what Mr Ramesh Mantrri said. I will just say 1 answer- This 16 year old girl gave this story ON 27 FEB 2002 reported by all English dailies, seems very unlikely that anyone in shock will be able to fabricate lies tutored by others on the same day, and she did indeed lose her parents and sisters, so the claim is very credible.On the other hands stories by Muslim so-called ‘witnesses’ were concocted much after the actual incidents, and many of them contain horrible loopholes and contradictions and factual mistakes. This site has told the truth that no woman’s womb was cut open and foetus taken out, and Jafri’s daughters were not raped. Of course, every story given by Muslim witnesses is not false but those which are false must be refuted.
I can also reply in your language but I have realized there is no point in it.
It is better if I just hack into your LAN and delete your life MOHIT/MANTRI. But that will only serve a small purpose.
When there are EYE WITNESS COUNTS for train carnage, those wre all BELIEVED and ACCEPED As facts by these hindu fakers..
And when hundreds of people are eyewtinesses to mass rapes, murders and killing of womens, children alike, then these so called “REAL HINDUS” say they are all fabricated.
How do we not know that the 16 year old girl WAS NOT WHITE WASHED by RSS?? It is true she lost her parents, but how do we know what she is saying is true? How do we for a fact anything that survivors are saying is tue about train burning??
I will tell you why, because those who suffer and die do not lie, same way hundreds of victims of POST GODHRA GENOCIDE are noy lying, because what they saw is what they are saying.
You know, I have actually realized, I am cauzing damage to my own cause by being so aggresive with the RSS Ideology, because your suster parties like MNS and shivsena are doing the dirty work for us.
Last week SHIV SAINKS wasted thousands of litres of milk to protest the RISING MILK COST, WAO!!! What a true what to show the love for country!!
And you idiots don;t realize, media shows all this to people, may be small portion of fanatics don’t change their mind about supporting you, but majority of people will go against BJP/RSS/VHP and never support your cause. This is the only reason, even though BJP is suc cessful in state elections, but at NATIONAL LEVEL, they will be defeated again and again, because people realize that to be able to carry a nation forward, we need to come out of this DIVIDE AND RULE policy!!
It is also shocking how BJP workers and leaders call CONGRESS corrupt and the one looting india, as if BJP is the only honest party in this whole country, BJP is as corrupt as congress if not less, so it does not matter who is more corrupt . If congress has looted india for 50 years on national stage, then BJP has looted respective indian states they have ruled all theseyears.NO ONE CAN DENY IT.
Anyways, your RSS cadres, please keep causing harm tov inncoent people, keep doing what you are doing, because as long as you idiots follow RSS, it will never be able to achieve its real goal of marinalizing minories in the name of AKHANDA HINDU RASHTRA…
AKHANDA MY ASS!! RSS KO DANDA DIYA KAYEGA EVERY TIME THEY BARK HINDU !! YOU ARE ALL FAKERS AND POSERS!!!
@Kiran. You are a truly idiot person. The claim that Laden supporting slogans were raised is done by a 16 year old girl, not by this site. This girl is a survivor to this inhuman massacre and she was shock for days after this. She lost her parents, saw them being burnt alive. And you will accuse that girl in shock of fabricating such stories on 27 Feb evening, great! HAVE SOME SHAME, HAVE SOME HUMANITY. STOP INSULTING THIS POOR GIRL WHO HAS BEEN ORPHANED.
“Then there are the eyewitness accounts of the survivors as well as the two drivers of Sabarmati Express, Rajendrarao Jadhav and Mukesh Pachauri, and two Assistant Station Masters (ASMs), R.P. Meena and A.K. Sharma. The two ASMs were on the second floor of the A-cabin signal tower near which the train was brought to a halt. Jadav told the investigators that when the train stopped, the two ASMs gestured to him, asking him to take the train ahead.
BLOCKHEAD when a survey was done of Muslims globally in 2001-02 after 9/11, 49 % regarded Laden as a hero. Are you telling me that no Indian Muslim is involved in terrorism? What about the hundreds of riots which Muslims start. Coimbatore blasts of 1998, MUSLIM LEAGUE IN KERALA, HURRIYT, KASHMIRI MUSLIMS, AFZAL GURU etc? Idiot, those who are terrorists and those who burn in daylight children in Godhra regard LADEN AS A HERO. AND THIS IS NOT THIS SITES ARGUMENTS but the account of a witness to this massacre.
MODERATORS, DELETE THIS INSULT TO THE GIRL BY THIS MAN.
did I forget to mention, im from delhi…
Folks,
Going be the langauge and the tone used by ‘Deepak’ while presenting his pint of view I quite certain that this guy is a MUSLIM under an assumed Hindu name.
You’ll find guys like ‘Deepak’ on various blog sites, etc using foul langauge with an intention to provoke the other party.
I suggest you don’t get drawn into a slanging match with these jokers. Just present your facts AND the TRUTH in an even tone and leave it at that. Evetually guys like ‘Deepak’ will give up and go away. Do not give them any attention or importance.