ahmedabad in its order on appeals in the godhra carnage case gujarat high court lambasted the state government and ministry of railways for remaining equally negligent in performing duties for providing safety to passengers travelling in trainswhile awarding compensation of rs 10 lakh to kin of the victims of the train burning incident and asking the authorities to decide on compensation for the injured the division bench observed that there was a call for karseva in ayodhya where the ram janmabhoomi and babri masjid was already a long drawn dispute emotions were running high and there was tension in some pockets signal faliya in godhra is a highly sensitive communalriotsprone zone and it was to the knowledge of the state government that sabarmati express was to pass through this areaevidence on record does not indicate dedicated efforts to maintain law and order at sensitive place like signal faliya except for a few constablesrpf personnel loitering here and there before the incident in question it is the case of the state that as many as 59 persons were roasted alive and many more were injured during the incident in question this argument itself admits the failure on the part of the state to maintain law and order the court order readsthe court further said maintenance of law and order is the states absolute responsibility without any exception and in the event of mass casualties at a public place in a case where there was a mass declaration of a vow by members of public to perform karseva at the disputed ayodhya site the states responsibility multiplied manifold and failure to maintain law and order in such a situation would necessarily render the state to the liability of compensation for the victims of crimethe court observed that compensation is not a bounty but it can be sourced to article 21 of the constitution of india it can be argued that if the state lays down the rule of behaviour it should not only punish the violation thereof but also look after the sufferers of the violation if the state prohibits all private vengeance it should go to the rescue of the victim of crime the perpetration of which it failed to contain