New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday extended his support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday extended his support to Sabarmati Report, a film that he praised for effectively countering misinformation and exposing hidden truths. Taking to social media, PM Modi commended the creators for their efforts in unraveling facts for the public.  

The Prime Minister’s comments were shared as a response to a tweet by Alok Bhatt, who had lauded the film in his post. The Prime Minister reposted Bhatt’s tweet and added stated, “Well said. It is good that this truth is coming out, and that too in a way common people can see it. A fake narrative can persist only for a limited period of time. Eventually, the facts will always come out.”  

Vikrant Massey, Raashii Khanna and Rodhi Dogra star in the film from director Ranjan Chandel. It is said to be inspired by true events that followed in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning incident in 2002 in Gujarat . Vikrant will be seen as a vernacular journalist in The Sabarmati Report. He dubbed the incident as “India’s 9/11 which changed our socio-political fabric overnight” while drawing parallels with the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York and the Godhra incident. Here are the true events, based on media reports, that have inspired the movie.

The Sabarmati Report

On the morning of February 27, 2002, a coach of the Sabarmati Express — Coach S6 — was set ablaze and 59 passengers travelling in that coach were charred to death. The train had arrived at Godhra station, about 125 km from Ahmedabad, Gujarat just then. The victims included 27 women and 10 children. Injuries were suffered by another 48 passengers. According to a Commission of Inquiry report, most of the 59 people killed were kar sevaks who were returning from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

In February 2011, 31 people were convicted in the Godhra train burning incident. The accused were charged with criminal conspiracy and murder in the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express. Out of 31, 11 were sentenced to death and 20 to life imprisonment. In 2017, the Gujarat High Court commuted the death sentence to life terms and all 31 got life imprisonment.