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Justice H Suresh,
Bombay High Court (retired)
What we have witnessed in Gujarat-where
hundreds of men, women and children were burnt alive by organized
communal gangs-is one of the worst violations of human rights in
recent years. It is worse than what happened in Bombay during the
riots in 1992-93. There, there were certain incidents of
dehumanized killings, such as the stoning of victims and burning
alive of people with the crowd clapping and dancing around the
body. There were also instances of victims being cut into pieces
and thrown into nullahs [water channels]. But in Gujarat
almost all the attacks have been systematically inhuman. People
have been locked up in houses and roasted alive. In many cases
the victims have been cut into pieces, or pierced with trishuls
[tridents] and set on fire. The nature of the killings, and
the way the savagery spread and continued for eight days,
overshadowed even the WTC incident of September 11. While George
W Bush reacted strongly and called for a concerted attack on
terrorism, our Prime Minister-who was too eager to cooperate and
be a partner of the "international coalition" against
"terrorism"-did not offer a word against this carnage
let loose on the minority community.
It was not a communal riot. There was no clash
of two communities. It was a well-planned attack on Muslims. Even
the High Court judges, top police officers-including an Inspector
General of Police-the rich and the poor shop owners, hoteliers
and industrialists were attacked. There was no resistance so as
to cause even a semblance of a riot. In fact quite a number of
Muslims were not even allowed to escape.
The government displayed a totally partisan
attitude. It could have controlled the entire situation within a
short time. Instead it deliberately delayed taking steps to
prevent the carnage. In all probability, the Government did not
want to prevent this concerted attack on the minority. It acted
on the dictum of the Chief Minister, that "every action has
a reaction", indicating his approval for what happened in
Godhra. In this, the State Government had the implicit backing
from the Central Government. The state Chief Minister declared
that what happened in Godhra was a terrorist act carried out by a
terrorist group. This was a deliberate lie, an excuse for
attacking innocent Muslims elsewhere. Evidence is now coming
forth relating to the incident at Godhra, showing that there was
provocation by the so-called karsevaks, which prompted the
violence.* Nothing, however, should have provoked the mindless
burning of the 60 karsevaks. And that was no justification
either for the attack on innocent Muslims in Gujarat.
The official death toll is about 700 people.
Unofficially, those who have gone round in Gujarat say that the
figure could be anywhere between 3000 to 4000 people. It is
estimated that property belonging to the minority community worth
about Rs.3000 crores was lost. It is doubtful that the government
will do anything in terms of compensation and rehabilitation. The
government is a BJP [Bharatiya Janatha Party] government;
nurtured by elements like the Bajrang Dal and VHP [Vishwa Hindu
Parishad], who are all patently anti-minority. The administration
is also corrupted by RSS [Rashtriya Sayawam-Sevak Sangh]-oriented
men occupying key positions.
It is important that justice be done towards
the minority community members, ensuring security of life and
property for them. It is unlikely the Central government will do
anything on this front. It is a misnomer to call the Central
Government an NDA [National Democratic Alliance] government. It
is not. It is a BJP government. It has systematically carried out
every agenda they have.
At present, there is no political process in
Gujarat that can guarantee the right to life and liberty of the
Muslims. There is hardly any judicial process that can come to
their rescue. The police have done little to act against the
perpetrators of this crime against humanity. Cases have not been
registered, the First Information Reports have not been filed,
and the real criminals have not been arrested. The whole criminal
justice system in Gujarat has failed.
The worst culprits are those who are in power
in Gujarat: the people who are responsible for the situation in
Gujarat are in Delhi. They have betrayed the Constitution. They
have acted with no sense of responsibility. Those who have taken
oath on the Constitution should realize that there can be no
compromise between secularism and communalism. Any such
compromise would only perpetuate communalism and damage the
secular fabric of this country.
This is edited text of an article originally
published in Combat Law: Human Rights Magazine, vol. 1,
no. 1, April-May 2002.
End Note
* Karsevaks are 'servants of karma',
where karma is 'work'. The term is used to
denote volunteers who dedicate themselves for temple construction
at the disputed temple site at Ayodhya.
Posted on 2002-08-15
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