The train set on fire in Godhra in 2002

Ahmedabad, March 9: Anwar Kalandhar and Mohammed Shakir were just 15 when the Godhra train killings triggered the communal carnage in February 2002.

Two years later, police “discovered” the two teenagers were part of the mob that attacked the Sabarmati Express and arrested them under the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act.

Their names did not figure in the first chargesheet filed by the police. They were mentioned in the supplementary chargesheet, which said they were among the mob that threw stones.

Too young to be sent behind bars, the two landed up at an observation centre for juvenile detainees at Khanpur in Ahmedabad, their home for the last five years.

Now adults, Kalandhar and Shakir hope to win freedom with the special anti-terror court judge, Jyotsna Yagnik, on Friday ordering the transfer of the train carnage case to the Godhra sessions court.

The transfer of the case came after the Supreme Court upheld Gujarat High Court’s order to withdraw terror charges against the Godhra accused.

Kalandhar and Shakir will be transferred to an observation home in Godhra where they will face trial under provisions of the Indian Penal Code along with 79 other accused. These 79 people, also booked under the anti-terror law, have spent the last seven years in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati jail.

“At least now they can meet their family without spending a single penny,” said Saeed Umarjee, the son of alleged Godhra mastermind Maulana Hussain Umerjee.

Permission to meet terror law detainees is hard to come by. Besides, the journey from Godhra to Ahmedabad, 150km away, and back is expensive for the not-so-well-off relatives of the accused.

Once the trial starts, the accused can apply for bail, earlier denied to them under the anti-terror law.

For many like Nashir Khan Pathan and Shaukat Badam, the order to drop terror charges means they can now see their children, born soon after their arrest. Pathan and Badam were taken into custody seven years ago, when their wives were pregnant, but were not allowed any visitors, said Umerjee.

Kalandhar and Shakir shrugged off news that they were no longer terror convicts. “They are aware of what’s happening. They religiously read papers to keep themselves updated about any development relating to the Godhra case,” said Mehul Patel, the master of the detention home.

School dropouts, the “boys” have grown into strapping young men, described as “creative and gentle”. “They have undergone vocational training and when they are released, they will be able to start their own business,” said Patel.