THESUNDAYSTORY11 EXPRESS SEPTEMBER 2, 2012 Voice for the victims

With a special court delivering its judgment in the Naroda Patiya case, PARIMAL DABHI meets some of the lawyers who fought for the victims of the cases. These are men who lent their time and expertise to support their clients on the long road to justice PHOTOGRAPHS: JAVED RAJA

NARODA PATIYA, DIPDA DARWAZA, VISNAGAR, Ninety-seven Muslims were killed and many injured when a mob attacked Naroda MEHSANA DISTRICT Patiya on February 28, 2002 in the worst ri- ots case in the aftermath of the Godhra A mob killed 11 people, including four children and five women, at the Chudi Vas train fire. While the case was initially inves- locality of Visnagar town near Dipda Darwaza on February 28, 2002. The bodies of the tigated by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch, victims could not be recovered and they were identified only from the pieces of flesh the Supreme Court later handed it over to and ornaments found at the massacre site. the SIT. VERDICT: July 30, 2012 ACQUITTED: 61 VERDICT: August 29, 2012 ACQUITTED: 29 CONVICTED: 21 CONVICTED: 32 sentenced to life, a policeman to simple imprisonment people, including BJP MLA Maya Kodnani AYAZ SHAIKH and Bajrang Dal leader who decided he would do so as a profes- have been sentenced to life imprisonment Though Ayaz Shaikh belongs to sional and take fees from the victims. Ahmedabad, he represented victims of “But after accepting the brief, when I the massacre at the Dipda Darwaza in went to inspect the scene of crime, I GOVIND PARMAR Mehsana district because they would got emotional. I then decided that I On August 29, minutes after the judg- not trust a local lawyer. “They wanted would charge only as much as I spend ment in the Naroda Patiya case, Govind a lawyer from Ahmedabad. They would on the case,” he says. Parmar stood outside the special court, made inquiries and then approached Shaikh worked hard on arraigning doing his best to avoid the battery of me. As the case was of great signifi- two senior BJP leaders—then BJP media crew and their cameras. It did- cance and offered immense scope for MLA from Visnagar, Prahlad Gosa, n’t matter that he had just won one of learning, I agreed to appear for them,” and then president of Visnagar munic- the most high-profile cases in recent says Shaikh. ipality, Dahya Patel. But he is disap- “I can’t sit down and do nothing times—Naroda Patiya, where 97 peo- Shaikh, an arts-and-commerce pointed that the trial court acquitted when there are human rights ple were killed on February 28, 2002. graduate from Gujarat University, says them. After the judgment, Shaikh says violations against Dalits, Muslims or “I can’t sit down and do nothing that when he first took up the case, he he got two threatening letters. people from any of the weaker when there are human rights viola- sections,” says Govind Parmar tions against Dalits, Muslims or people from any of the weaker sections. I be- ODE, ANAND DISTRICT lieve that Naroda Patiya was a geno- cide where people were killed and Ahmedabad. Her sudden wealth at- raped,” says Parmar, a 36-year-old tracted a man who would harass her, PIRAWALI BHAGOL MALAV BHAGOL Dalit from a village in Surendranagar asking her to marry him. When she re- 23 Muslims were killed at Pirawali Three members of a Muslim family were district of Gujarat. fused, he burnt her to death. “I took Bhagol on March 1, 2002. The trigger burnt to death in their house in the Malav Parmar, who is associated with Be- personal interest in that case and the was the death of a boy who was shot Bhagol area of Ode on March 1, 2002. havioural Science Centre, a voluntary accused was convicted and sentenced when police opened fire to control a VERDICT: May 4, 2012 group in Ahmedabad, started visiting to life imprisonment. I was witness to mob. When Muslims fleeing the mob ACQUITTED: 30 relief camps in the city a couple of this woman’s pain as she stayed in hos- took shelter in a three-storied building, months after the riots. “Initially, when I pital for a month before her death,” the mob locked the doors from outside CONVICTED: 9 used to visit the camps, people were says Parmar. “Had Bibi Bano not been and set the building on fire. A few sentenced to life imprisonment hostile. They would say Hindus had widowed in the riots, she would not people managed to escape and turned killed their kin and I was, after all, a have had to face all that trouble. Such eye witnesses. Hindu. It took me a lot of effort to win was the indirect impact of the riots on VERDICT: April 9, 2012 their confidence,” says Parmar. the victims.” ACQUITTED: 23 After studying the Naroda case pa- Speaking of the threats and in- pers, Parmar and his team found many ducements the witnesses were sub- CONVICTED: 23 lapses in the police investigation. The jected to, he says, “One key witness to sentenced to life imprisonment National Human Rights Commission the massacre was framed in a false and others pointed out these lapses in a murder case. We fought for him and petition to the Supreme Court, which he was ultimately acquitted by a crim- IRSHAD MANSURI then set up a Special Investigation inal court. Similarly, one of the ac- When Irshad Mansuri, an Ahmedabad- Team (SIT) to probe the case further. cused in the case used to threaten a ALTAF JIDRAN cross-examining witnesses and about based lawyer, took up the Ode mas- Parmar says the case that moved witness and got a criminal case regis- In all his years of legal practice, Altaf the twists and turns a legal battle can sacre cases, his biggest fear was that him most was that of Bibi Bano, an tered against the witness’s brother. We Jidran, 47, has never handled a case as take,” he says. the accused, who were from the influ- eyewitness in the Naroda case who not only got the witness’s brother ac- high-profile as Naroda Patiya. Jidran, a While handling the case, Jidran says, ential Patel community, would intimi- lost everyone in her family, including quitted in the case, but also got the ha- law graduate from Gujarat University, he was moved by the pressure witnesses date the victims, all of them poor her husband, and faced threats and rasser’s bail cancelled.” is associated with ’s Citi- went through, the dilemma of what to labourers. “My biggest challenge was bribes from the accused to retract her So far, says Parmar, he hasn’t faced zens for Justice and Peace, which is say and what not to say in court. “I told to safeguard the witnesses from bribes statements. threats himself. “But after these convic- fighting for the victims of the them to say the truth, without fear. I am offered by the accused,” says Mansuri, After the Naroda massacre, she got a tions, who knows? People might hit 2002 riots. happy that I could convey this simple who is a member of Citizens for Jus- hefty compensation and moved to back at me for what I have done for the Jidran says that he learnt a lot from but intricate rule of criminal trials,” tice and Peace. But his fears were soon Vatva, an area in the eastern part of victims,” he says. fighting the case. “I learnt the art of he says. proved wrong. “I soon realised that though they were poor, most of the witnesses were firm on getting justice IMRAN PATHAN also a victim, it was easy to win their for themselves.” Pathan was 19 when rioters attacked his trust,” he says. Mansuri, a commerce-and-law house behind Saijpur Tower in Naroda. After getting hold of the graduate from Gujarat University, rep- He then moved to a relief camp in the chargesheets, Pathan would visit the vic- resented victims of both the massacres said they were ‘presumed dead’, which Shahibaug area. Pathan, a commerce tims and read out their statements. “If at Ode town in Anand district. In both did not necessarily mean they were graduate from Ahmedabad, had then de- somebody disagreed and said that wasn't the cases, the trial court upheld the murdered. Many of the relatives of the cided that he would fight his own battle what he had told the police, I would conspiracy theory for the first time in dead did not have death certificates. for justice, and that of the other riot vic- bring it to the notice of the authorities,” the post-Godhra riots cases investi- So we produced documents showing tims. For a few months after the riots, he Pathan says. gated by the SIT. Mansuri, 42, says it relatives getting compensation from lived in relief camps and then shifted to a Pathan would also sit down with has been a tough fight for justice. In the Collector,” he says. Mansuri got so house in the Vatva area. them for hours, explaining the nuances of the Pirawali Bhagol case, many of the drawn into the lives of the victims that “After the riots, our community was the legal battle. “Most of the people were victims were living away from the he represented them in other cases as looking for ways to get justice. One day, I poor and did not know the way of courts. town, some even in fields in nearby vil- well. Azharuddin Malek was hardly 10 met Govindbhai (Parmar) and he said I Since I had been trained as a para legal at lages, too scared to return home. when he lost all his relatives in the Pi- could join him as a para-legal in the Nar- the Behavioural Science Centre , I could “This created a lot of practical hur- rawali Bhagol massacre. The family oda Patiya case. I joined him immedi- explain everything to them,” he says. dles. I helped some of them get elec- land which Malek inherited had been ately,” says Pathan, who has since then Since Wednesday’s judgment, tricity and water in their temporary encroached upon. “After losing his been associated with the Behavioural Pathan, now 29 and the father of a new- homes,” he says. The other challenge in family in the massacre, the boy can at Science Centre in Ahmedabad. born, is busy meeting witnesses in the the case was that only two bodies had least make a beginning with this land,” “I used to go and tell people in relief Naroda Patiya case. “I know almost all of been recovered while 21 missing had says Mansuri, who is now fighting a camps that we were there to give them them. Most of them are happy. So am I,” been presumed dead. “Since 21 bod- criminal case in an Anand court on legal help, not monetary aid. Since I was he says. ies could not be traced, the accused Malek’s behalf.

SARDARPURA, MEHSANA DISTRICT

On March 1, 2002, a mob of around 1,500 YUSUF B SHAIKH plained to them how to appear before port,” says Shaikh, who is associated attacked Shaikh Vaas, the only pucca house After 48 years as a criminal lawyer, the court and how to testify without with Teesta Setalvad’s Citizens for in Sardarpura village where 100-odd peo- Yusuf B Shaikh had stopped appearing fear,” he says. Justice and Peace. ple had taken refuge. The mob locked the in courts, except for select cases. The To build their confidence and Earlier in his career, Shaikh had house from outside and set it on fire, killing Sardarpura case—where 33 people strike a rapport with them, he ate been selected as a Judicial Magistrate 33 people. were burnt to death in a building—was with them and lent them an ear. “The First Class and posted at Rajkot. But he VERDICT: November 9, 2011 one of them. victims were poor people who quit after a brief period and went back ACQUITTED: 42 And when he did take up the case, worked as daily wagers in the fields to legal practice. the 71-year-old did much more than of the accused. When they were at- The Sardarpura case, says Shaikh, what his brief demanded of him. tacked by their employers, they were was an eye-opener. “It was while fight- “The witnesses were very poor and surprised and scared. And so, it was ing this case that I realised the kind of CONVICTED: 31 had no knowledge about court pro- important to help them come out of problems a villager faces in his every- sentenced to life imprisonment ceedings. My colleagues and I ex- the trauma. We gave them that sup- day life.”