2002 Gujarat violence: Encyclopedia II - 2002 Gujarat violence - The role of the Central and the Gujarat state government in the riots

2002 Gujarat violence - The role of the Central and the Gujarat state government in the riots

Various independent human rights groups as well as major Indian newspapers have accused the Gujarat state government, led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi of supporting, and in some cases instigating, the riots. India's own National Human Rights Commission indicted the state government saying "the commission has, therefore, reached that (sic) there was comprehensive failure of the state to protect the constitutional rights of the people of Gujarat." [4]

On 3rd March, 2002, as mobs ruled the streets, Mr. Modi is reported to have stated: "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction". However, Mr. Modi has since denied making this quote. At the height of the violence, Modi further added that Gujarat's 50 million Hindus had shown "remarkable restraint under grave provocation", implying that the violence could have been worse [5].

As a result of Narendra Modi's alleged role in abetting the riots, the US government revoked his visa under Section 212 (a)(2)(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act which makes any foreign government official who was responsible or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religions freedom, ineligible for the visa ([6]). The decision was protested by the Indian government, but in response the US government pointed out that their decision was based on the report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India [7].

On part of the government's effort to control the riots:

• Deployed the army, within 72 hours.
• Made preventive arrests of over 33,000 people.
• Fired over 12,000 rounds of bullets
• Fired over 15,000 rounds of tear gas shells

In parliament debate, Government stated that "Ahmedabad and these riots were to be the only riots in the history of India where hundred persons have been killed in police firing." [8]

The President of India at that time, K. R. Narayanan, later blamed the ruling BJP government which was perceived as a "Hindu" party, for supporting the riots. In an interview to the Malayalam magazine Manava Samskriti on the eve of the third anniversary of the Gujarat riots he said: “If the army had been given the powers to suppress the violence, but the [BJP] state government did not do it; the Centre also did not do it. It was a conspiracy between the state and the central government that was responsible for the Gujarat violence.” ([9]) Narayanan's views were consistent with reports by Rahul Bedi that the soldiers were held back by the government in the initial days of the riots which gave the rioters a free hand [10].

India's Supreme Court, expressed its displeasure at the government's handling of the case. [11]. The Court also rebuked both the Gujarat High Court and the local justice system, stating, “Judicial criminal administration system must be kept clean and beyond the reach of whimsical political wills or agendas.” [12] Some of the most damaging allegations came from Mr.RB Sreekumar, who served as intelligence chief for the Gujrat Government during the riots. Mr. SreeKumar alleged that the government ordered the killing of Muslims after the Godhra incident [13][14]. He presented his notes to India Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) which investigates complaints by civil servants.

The Government of Gujrat refuted the allegations and chargesheeted R B Sreekumar in connection with his ‘‘semi-official’’ diary on the grounds of releasing official documents [15]. Some critics of Mr. Sreekumar questioned the authenticity of the dairy he submitted as evidence[16].

2002 Gujarat violence - Conviction

In India, Conviction in riot-cases is rare[17] [18]. The first of the convictions in post-Godhra riot cases came on Tuesday, November 25 2003 with the Kheda district court sentencing 12 persons to life imprisonment [19].

On 14 December 2005, a special fast-track court in Godhra, Gujrat sentenced 11 people to life imprisonment for killing 11 Muslims during religious riots in 2002 [20]. Another 21 suspects were acquitted due to lack of evidence. In a related judgement the court also convicted three people for leading the mobs that had attacked Muslim houses in the same village in the Panchmahals district of Gujarat. They were sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined [21].

2002 Gujarat violence - The Best Bakery Case

The Best Bakery case, one of the most famous in recent history, is still ongoing. The incident involved the gruesome killing of 14 people when the Best Bakery, in the Hanuman Tekri area of Vadodara, was attacked by a large mob[22].

A Sessions court in Vadodara had acquitted 21 accused in the case as witnesses turned hostile. The Gujarat High Court also upheld the decision. Later, a key witness Zahira Sheikh asked for retrial of the accused outside Gujarat and said that she lied in the court due to threat to her life. The Supreme Court of India ordered a retrial, out of the state of Gujarat and described Gujarat's administrators as "modern day neros", saying that they "were looking elsewhere when Best Bakery and innocent women and children were burning, and were probably deliberating how the perpetrators of the crime can be saved and protected" [23].

Zaheera, however changed her stance and said that the decision by the Sessions court was correct. This time she accused social activist Teesta Setalvad of getting her signature on the petition by telling her that the petition filed was for her property. A "sting" operation carried by the magazine Tehelka failed to prove that she had accepted bribes from Srivastava Brothers (BJP MLA Madhu Srivastava and Congress Municipal Councilman Chandrakant Srivastava) [24].

The other witnesses in the case have maintained their stand and some of identified the accused in their depositions.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The role of the Central and the Gujarat state government in the riots", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki