Survivors of the post-Godhra massacre of 27 people in Pandarwada village — among the worst in the Panchmahals district — did not turn up even on the second and last day of the inquiry commission’s hearing.That only added to the gloom in the air as Justice G.T. Nanavati and Justice K.G. Shah silently heard about 15 victims narrate their shocking stories.In the conference room of the Circuit House here, as one assistant took notes and another typed statements, Zubaida Banu of Delol village spoke of the killing of her husband and child. Rampaging mobs had killed 37 Muslims and set their houses afire in that village in the days following the Godhra carnage.‘‘I am still scared, even though I have moved to Kalol,’’ she said. ‘‘The killers are still roaming free.’’Zubaida said that utensils and valuables stolen from her ransacked home were yet to be returned. The government counsel, however, maintained they had been recovered and returned.To the widow’s charge that the killers weren’t arrested, the government counsel said that 18 of the 27 men accused of killings in three localities of the village had been arrested.Another victim, Samir Hussain of Limbdi Falia in Halol town, said he had seen Ruksana, a child, being hacked to death by half a dozen villagers. He alleged that although he had identified the killers, no one had been arrested. A police representative, however, told the Commission that seven of the 11 accused of rioting and murder in Limbdi Falia had been arrested.Sharifabanu of Singal Falia in Godhra, from which a mob allegedly attacked the Sabarmati Express, leaving 59 dead, had a different sort of a complaint.Weeping inconsolably as she sat at the round table, Sharifabanu told the judges that her husband Abdul Rehman Sheikh had been wrongly arrested for the Godhra carnage. ‘‘He allowed fire-engines to refill tanks from our well so that the train fire could be put out,’’ she said. ‘‘At that time officials said his name would be in the papers the next day for having helped them. Instead, the next day they took him away, saying he too was part of the mob that attacked the train.’’Justice Nanavati told the woman he would direct representatives of the railway police to give their statement within 15 days. Some residents of Pandarwada, too scared to be seen appearing before the Commission, despite the security promised to them, had filed affidavit through some voluntary organisations.
