Gujarat Religious Violence

Date: February 28, 2002 • Location: Gandhinagar, India

During a period of religious violence in Gujarat, India, mobs of Hindus attacked Muslims in Naroda Patiya and in Chamanpura, resulting in 166 deaths.

On 28 February 2002, a three-day period of inter-communal violence began in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra the day before, which caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims and karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, is cited as having instigated the violence. Following the initial violence, further outbreaks occurred in Ahmedabad for three months; statewide, even further outbreaks of violence against the minority Muslim population of Gujarat continued for the next year.