After Gujarat riots, Muslim men stuck in legal limbo

By Rupam Jain Nair

GODHRA, India (Reuters) - Nearly 90 Muslim men are waiting in a jail for a trial that may never happen, under a law that no longer exists, accused of triggering one of India's worst religious riots in Gujarat in 2002.

Gujarat's Hindu-nationalist leaders accuse these 87 men of coldly plotting to burn Hindu pilgrims to death as their train passed through a station in the town of Godhra.

Their defenders say some of the accused men were provoked into a spontaneous fight that spiralled into an accidental fire -- the same conclusion reached by a central government investigation -- while others were not even at the scene.

Either way, human rights activists, including Amnesty International, condemn the legal limbo in which they languish, detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) that was repealed in 2004.

On Tuesday, the prisoners' bail hearing at the Supreme Court was delayed for the ninth time, lawyers said.

The Godhra train fire led to riots in Gujarat in which around 2,500 people, mostly Muslims, were shot, burned and hacked to death, according to rights activists' figures.

Only one Hindu rioter was ever detained under POTA, and was subsequently released on bail, defence lawyers say.

Hundreds of Hindu rioters were arrested on normal criminal charges during and shortly after the riots and scores have been sentenced to crimes from murder downwards. But many have walked free, while others facing criminal charges have been freed on bail and even contested elections.