Mumbai (AsiaNews/Agencies) A new trial for the massacres of Muslim people perpetrated by Hindu fanatics in February 2002 in Gujarat will begin today. Police has adopted strict security measures in order to prevent Hindu activists from causing serious problems.
The Supreme Court has accepted the request of the National Commission for Human Rights to re-open the trial. In 2003 the 21 people accused for the massacres were declared not guilty. Zahira Sheikh, an eye-witness, had changed her own testimony about the killing after the leaders of the BJP threatened her life; 36 other witnesses had rejected to give testimony out of fear of retaliations. The tension between Hindus and Muslims has become stronger since Hindus fundamentalists destroyed the Babri Masjid Mosque in December 1992. The Mosque, built in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) was believed to occupy the very ground where the god Ram was born. The destruction of the Mosque had caused violence between the two religious groups. On February 27th 2002, a mob of Muslim people attacked a train in the city of Godhra and killed 58 Hindus, who were going back home from Ayodhya. More than 2000 Muslims were killed as a retaliation. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the local police are directly involved in the massacres, which have been defined as "a systematic project sponsored by the State", namely by the BJP