Concerned Citizens Tribunal – Gujarat 2002
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CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY VOLUME I An inquiry into the carnage in Gujarat List of Incidents and Evidence CONCERNED CITIZENS TRIBUNAL - GUJARAT 2002 Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002 1 Recommended contribution: Rs. 200 (Towards expenses incurred on the Tribunal’s work) Published by Anil Dharkar for Citizens for Justice and Peace P.O. Box 28253, Juhu Post Office, Mumbai 400 049. India. E-mail : [email protected] and Printed at: Siddhi Offset Pvt. Ltd. 5-12, Kamat Industrial Estate, 396,Veer Savarkar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai - 25 Photographs Courtesy: AFP, AP, Communalism Combat, Reuters (Arko Datta), Sandesh, The Indian Express, The Tribune 2 Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002 CONTENTS Foreward 5 Introduction 9 History of Communal Violence in Gujarat 12 Political Backdrop to the Carnage 17 Mapping the violence 19 Godhra 23 Incidents of Post-Godhra Violence Ahmedabad Chamanpura 26 Naroda Gaon and Naroda Patiya 37 Rest of Ahmedabad 43 Ahmedabad Rural 61 Panchmahal 65 Anand 87 Mehsana 90 Dahod 95 Sabarkantha 114 Banaskantha 130 Patan 131 Vadodara 133 Vadodara Rural 154 Vadodara Tribal Belt 162 Bharuch 170 Kheda 184 Bhavnagar 189 Rajkot 190 Attack on Christians 191 List of statements placed before the Tribunal 192 Continuing Violence 193 Expert Witnesses 207 List of Annexures 237 Annexures 238 Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002 3 4 Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002 FOREWARD What a shock and shame that Indias fair secular name should suffer dastardly dis- grace through the recent government-abetted Gujarat communal rage, compounded by grisly genocidal carnage and savage arsonous pillage, victimising people of Muslim vintageand unkindest cut of all allegedly executed with the monstrous abet- ment of chief minister Modi, his colleagues and party goons. The gravamen of this pogrom-like operation was that the administration reversed its constitutional role and, by omission and commission, engineered the loot, ravishment and murder which was methodically perpetrated through planned process by chauvinist VHP elements, goaded by terrorist appetite. What ensued was a ghastly sight the like of which, since bleed- ing partition days, no Indian eye had seen, no Indian heart had conceived and of which no Indian tongue could adequately tell. Hindutva barbarians came out on the streets in different parts of Gujarat and, in all flaming fury, targeted innocent and helpless Muslims who had nothing to do with the antecedent Godhra event. They were brutalised by miscreants uninhibited by the police; their women were unblush- ingly molested; and Muslim men, women and children, in a travesty of justice, were burnt alive. The chief minister, oath-bound to defend law and order, vicariously connived at the inhuman violence and some of his ministers even commanded the macabre acts of horror. There was none to question the malevolent managers of communal massacre. The criminal outrage, there was none in uniform to resist, not even to record information of the felonies. Nor was there any impartial official to render succour or assure civilised peace. When government failed and the local media distorted the truth, the fascist trend flourished and the barbaric, fanatic, rapist human animals remained unchecked. Awakened by this sinister scenario, people of conscience, all over the country, felt the gory, catastrophe merited investigation. Thus was set up a committee of enquiry formally headed by me, but actively and functionally managed by a great young lady Teesta Setalvad. She organised the services of eminent judges whose retirement would not inhibit them from throwing all their energy to the enquiry processa sig- nal public service. A great team, valiant paradigm, joined them. They collected Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002 5 evidence of the gruesome events, lethal incidents, vicious environs and the complic- ity of people in authority who were vicariously guilty of the indescribable offenses. Those who sat on the committeethey were superannuated judges, a militant marvel of an advocate and four other noble public figuresmade great sacrifice and ren- dered free service. They were experienced as judges and seasoned social activists, and knew what a judicial enquiry called foran objective, yet sensitive examination of the overall holocaust. They pooled testimonies sought from official and non-official sources, and pooled all probative material. People came and gave evidence, some officials showed up to unfold what they knew had happened. The Tribunal toured, restlessly strove to get at the traumatic truth and were guided by the necessity of hearing both parties. Grievances poured in. Tears and fears were placed before the Tribunal. I was there only for a day and, therefore, cannot claim to have participated substantially in the enquiry. But my colleagues have done an anguished job, looking into tons of material, sifting and sorting and producing a brave, massive report. I commend their task to the Indian People. I cannot but condemn the culpable delin- quency of those in power in Gandhinagar nor, indeed, is it possible to absolve the Central rulers in Delhi who failed to act and, perhaps, connived by omission, the harrying operation in Gandhi Country; I mean Gujarat, where the greatest man of our time was born, with the noblest example of secular symphony of religions. Yet, action has to be taken against heinous culprits since justice shall be done under the Indian Constitution. Be you ever so high, the law is above you. My message and my mission is the presentation of an exhaustive report, which does credit to those (other than me) who prepared, sedulously and feelingly, findings which they were commissioned to do by their conscience and the nation. There are tragic, traumatic conclusions and creative, corrective recommendations. There are measures, punitive and rehabilitative, for victimological constitutional ac- tion. My task is to place the report before the people. Know ye the Truth and the Truth shall make you Freeprovided We, the people of India, act promptly and fearlessly. The melody of communal unity, the beauty of religious amity and the secularity of Indian humanitythese glorious values are the mission and message to the nation. Let us struggle to sustain this supreme value, lest we, as a people, perish by divisive ideology. The Gujarat episode is an evil event and disastrous portent. Let us battle for the success of our pluralist culture, secular heritage and social-justice-illumined democracy. India must win! The integrity of our fraternity shall never surrender to berserk, blood-thirsty political bestiality. October 24, 2002 Justice VR Krishna Iyer 6 Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002 Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002 An Inquiry into the Carnage in Gujarat Report of the Tribunal Justice VR Krishna Iyer Justice PB Sawant Retd Judge, Supreme Court Retd Judge, Supreme Court Justice Hosbet Suresh Adv KG Kannabiran Retd Judge, Mumbai High Court President, PUCL Ms. Aruna Roy Dr. KS Subramanian Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan Retd IPS, Former DGP, Tripura Prof. Ghanshyam Shah Prof. Tanika Sarkar Professor of Social Sciences in Professor of History, JNU Community Health, JNU Dated this 21st day of November 2002 Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002 7 8 Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002 Introduction The Concerned Citizens Tribunal Gujarat 2002, was conceived as a response to the carnage that rocked the state of Gujarat following the Godhra tragedy on Febru- ary 27, 2002. The eight-member Tribunal was constituted in consultation with a large number of groups from within Gujarat and the rest of the country. A copy of its terms of reference and a list of the groups urging that such a Peoples Inquiry be launched is annexed hereto and marked as Annexure 1. The Tribunal collected 2,094 oral and written testimonies, both individual and col- lective, from victim-survivors and also independent human rights groups, womens groups, NGOs and academics. The documentation work done by relief camp managers and community leaders, from lists of persons killed or missing, to the meticulous tabula- tion of economic loss and religious desecration, is unprecedented and immense. The Tribunal has benefited greatly from these and they are being published in a separate volume of annexures to our report. In addition, over one dozen detailed fact-finding reports and inquiries were placed before the Tribunal and we have benefited greatly from a close scrutiny of these. We have also collected photographs, copies of FIRs, audio- and video-tapes, as evidence. The sheer volume of the evidence on record took an enormous amount of time and human resources to sift through and evaluate. Yet, as in all human endeavours, there may be deficiencies in the report. For these, we plead extenuation and understanding as unlike in case of official inquiries, it has been volun- tary commitment from a whole team that has enabled the completion of this report. The Tribunal pays tribute to the victim-survivors, individually and collectively, who deposed before us at great risk to their person in the simple hope that one day justice will be done and the guilty be punished. Even as the Tribunal sat in Ahmedabad, there were threats and premises like the circuit house at Shahibaug were denied us due to the omnipresence of prowling mobs. We acknowledge our great debt to the activists on the ground who worked day and night to bring the victims and reliable eyewitnesses to us. After recording evidence, visiting sites, placing on record statements and collecting other relevant material, the Tribunal arrived at some prima facie conclusions. These Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002 9 were forwarded along with our recommendations to both the central and state gov- ernments and their views were awaited. However, the Tribunal regrets that neither the state government nor the central government, or individual ministers to whom request letters were sent, responded. Though we are entitled to draw adverse conclu- sions from this lack of response, because that they did not respond to the interim findings, we do not propose to do so.