annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

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