February 27, 2002 (Wednesday)
- Alicia Keys wins six Grammys.
- Today is the centennial of John Steinbeck's birth.
- "War on Terrorism": The U.S. sends Special Operations Forces to the former Soviet republic of Georgia to help combat guerrilla fighters, though Russia protests.
- 57 people die in Godhra when a Muslim mob sets fire to a carriage on the Sabarmati Express filled with Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists returning from Ayodhya en route to Ahmedabad. After detaching the burned carriage, the train continues to Vadodara, where Hindus beat and stab people leaving the train, killing one. A 17-year-old is later killed in Godhra by police trying to disrupt mobs.
- Comedian Spike Milligan dies from liver disease, aged 83.