annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
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INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Gujarat<br />
saved or protected. Law and justice<br />
become flies in the hands of these<br />
‘wanton’ boys.” - stated Supreme Court of<br />
India on 12 April 2004 while ordering the<br />
re-trial of the Best Bakery case in<br />
Maharashtra under the jurisdiction of the<br />
Bombay High Court.<br />
Over 2,000 people, mostly Muslims,<br />
were killed in the Gujarat riots following<br />
the death of 58 Hindus, mostly Bajrang<br />
Dal activists when the Sabarmati Express<br />
caught flames at Godhra on 27 February<br />
2002. The cause of the flame is in dispute.<br />
But, the State’s complicity in the<br />
subsequent riots is beyond doubt. The<br />
State government of Gujarat set up a<br />
commission of inquiry headed by Justice<br />
G T Nanavati Shah. On 2 September 2004,<br />
the United Progressive Alliance<br />
government constituted another High<br />
Level Committee headed by <strong>for</strong>mer<br />
Supreme Court Judge U C Banerjee to<br />
probe the incident. 12 Though the Supreme<br />
Court in its judgement of 12 April 2004<br />
blamed the Gujarat riot on “modern day<br />
Neros”, if the commissions of inquiries<br />
into the riots that took place since India’s<br />
independence are any indication, the<br />
inquiry commissions into the Gujarat riots<br />
will have different conclusions. The real<br />
culprits will once go unpunished.<br />
The 2002 riots haunted Gujarat. On 27<br />
February 2004, Ganesh Nandubhai<br />
Punwani was <strong>report</strong>edly stabbed to death<br />
by a mob of 50 persons at 12.15 pm near<br />
Noorani Masjid, Varodara on the second<br />
anniversary of the Godhra carnage.<br />
Punwani was <strong>report</strong>edly riding pillion on a<br />
scooter with a Muslim friend when he was<br />
chased and repeatedly stabbed on his<br />
chest, killing him on the spot. Police<br />
opened fire, killing 24-year-old<br />
Mohammed Faheem on 26 February 2004.<br />
Chotalal Limbasi Borse, who was injured<br />
in the communal clash, succumbed to<br />
injuries at SSG Hospital on 27 February<br />
2004. 13<br />
The Supreme Court judgments on the<br />
transfer of Bilqis Yakoob Rasool and Best<br />
Bakery cases have given a ray of hope <strong>for</strong><br />
justice. In a few other prominent petitions<br />
pertaining to transfer to outside of Gujarat,<br />
the Supreme Court has yet to deliver<br />
judgements. Yet, around half of the<br />
communal violence cases - 2,032 out of<br />
total 4,252 have been closed down by<br />
Gujarat Police after classifying them as<br />
“true but undetected”. In most cases, there<br />
has been no ef<strong>for</strong>t at detection. On 17<br />
August 2004, the Supreme Court directed<br />
the Gujarat government to set up a 10member<br />
police team headed by the<br />
Director General of Police to assess the<br />
possibility of reopening post-Godhra riot<br />
cases, which had been closed on the<br />
ground that the accused could not be<br />
traced. The apex court asked the team to<br />
examine the FIRs in these cases along with<br />
the closure <strong>report</strong>s filed by the prosecution<br />
and decide, “whether fresh investigation<br />
was required”. 14<br />
On 23 August 2004, Supreme Court<br />
asked the Advocate General of Gujarat to<br />
review the State Law Department’s<br />
decision not to file appeals in about 200<br />
riot cases in which the accused had been<br />
65