The burning of a train coach carrying Hindu religious pilgrims in Godhra, Gujarat on 27 Feb 2002 led to some of the most horrific communal violence that independent India has ever seen. It has been alleged that even the police and other state representatives were complicit in the massacre of the states Muslim population. In this context, this research seeks to uncover the ways in which nationalist constructs play a role in human suffering and gross violations of human rights, by analysing the links between the constructions of the Hindu nationalist movement and the way that violence was...