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AHMEDABAD, INDIA, July 7, 2002: Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani has rejected a forensic report that contradicts the government’s view that a Muslim mob had set a train on fire from outside, killing 58 passengers, in February near here. The contention of Ahmedabad-based Forensic Science Laboratory that the fire, which engulfed two coaches of Sabarmati Express at Godhra railway station, was ignited from within them was untenable, Advani told reporters here on Sunday. “How could women, children and other travellers keep inflammable or explosives to take their own lives?” Advani asked during a day’s visit here, while rejecting the laboratory’s report. “The idea is frivolous.” A report on the lab’s method is posted at “source” above. The forensic lab parked a similar railroad car at the same place as the one burnt in Godhra. They tossed water at it from the outside, attempting to simulate the throwing of flammable liquid, but not actually causing a fire. The lab believed, for unstated reasons, that at least 60 liters of flammable liquid were required to start the fire, and concluded that such a large amount could not be thrown through the windows. They do not say why their theory contradicts numerous eye-witness accounts of the attack by a mob of Muslims numbering approximately 1,500.

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