‘Maaro! Kaapo! Baalo!’ State, Society, and Communalism in Gujarat

People’s Union for Democratic Rights Delhi

May 2002

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PREFACE

Images of corpse filled trains are so potent a symbol in India becausethey inevitably conjure up the actual and inscribed memories of Partition,when trains from either side of what became India and Pakistan wouldarrive with dead bodies. The burning of the Sabarmati Express at Godhraon the morning of February 27 is destined to become an intrinsic part of anew 21st century partition narrative, unless something can be done to stopthe poison spreading.

The Sabarmati Express had been full of karsevaks on their way backfrom Ayodhya. They had gone to help construct a Ram temple on the site ofthe Babri Masjid, which an earlier generation of karsevaks had demolishedten years ago. And now some of them were being brought back dead, burntalive in a horrifying and gruesome attack, by a Muslim mob just outsideGodhra station.

It took a day for organised ‘retaliation’ to begin. 28 February and 1March were declared ‘Gujarat Bandh’ and ‘Bharat Bandh’ respectively. TheBandh, it turns out, was only for law abiding citizens – VHP and BajrangDal mobs had full control over the streets. Rumours and falsities abounded,including some which were given the authority of newspaper headlines.The Sandesh, for example, ‘reported’ on 28 February that the attackingMuslims had abducted Hindu women from the train. A day later, it an-nounced that the raped and mutilated bodies of two of these women hadbeen found in Kalol near Godhra. The VHP and its supporters circulatedthese newspaper accounts around the state in order to incite and justifyone of the worst communal carnages in India’s recent history.

Official figures of the dead stand at roughly 950 till early May. Thesecontinue to rise as the ‘missing’ slowly get acknowledged as dead. Unoffi-cial figures stand at over 2000. Death statistics do not take into accountthose injured, assaulted, those whose houses have been burnt and familiesaffected by the killing of the breadwinner. Attacks on Muslims took placein 19 districts of Gujarat, and were particularly intense in 10 districtsalong the north east-south west axis. As the still mounting statistics of lostlives and property show, the official use of the word ‘riot’, evoking images ofgroup clashes, is not just wrong but a deliberate effort to obfuscate theissue. What happened was a systematic effort to terrorise Muslims andreduce them to the status of second class citizens by taking away theirlives, livelihood and shelter. It was a genocide that was almost unprec-edented in its spread and intensity, the degree of organisation and atten-tion to detail, and the extent to which representatives of the state partici-pated in the attacks.

PUDR sent a fact-finding team in early April 2002 to investigate intothe violence in Gujarat and its implications for the rights of citizens. Anumber of teams had by then already investigated and reported on the

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large-scale and brutal massacres of Muslims, particularly in Ahmadabadand Vadodara. Several reports had also covered the Godhra incident. Wevisited the Godhra Railway Station and the burnt compartment, and spoketo officials and survivors from S6, and also two relief camps in Ahmadabad.However our team chose to concentrate on the rural areas and small townsin six affected districts which had been relatively less investigated. Wemet a cross section of victims in 21 relief camps in the districts ofPanchmahals, Dahod, Mahesana, Sabarkantha, Anand, Kheda, Ahmadabad(city), and also visited villages where attacks had occurred in some areas.In Ahmadabad city and Gandhinagar, we briefly visited a few camps andmet officials, journalists, lawyers. The team interviewed many officials –Secretary Revenue (in charge of relief and rehabilitation), Gujarat; theDGP, Gujarat; the SPs of Panchmahals, Kheda and Sabarkantha; the Col-lectors of Anand, Sabarkantha and Panchmahals; the Station Superintend-ent, Godhra and many local police and revenue officials. The team also metpeople from various walks of life, representatives of traders associationsand the chambers of commerce, representatives of the VHP and Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind and the NGOs assisting in relief work.

As we go to press, the focus of national attention has shifted away fromGujarat to the possibility of war with Pakistan. Yet, the situation in Gujaratcontinues to be tense, with sporadic reports of communal violence comingin. Religious communities are completely polarized. More importantly,Muslims in Gujarat live in a continuing state of fear, with none of theirbasic rights as citizens or humans met. This report is an attempt to under-stand and explain how some of these basic rights have been violated and tohighlight not just the role of communal organizations like the RSS, VHP,Bajrang Dal and BJP, but the fundamentally discriminatory nature of stateaction both at the time and after.

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Contents

I. The Attack on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra: The Immediate Spark 5II. Attacks on Muslims: A Sample of Incidents 7

III. What the Incidents tell us: Emerging Patterns 27IV. Role of the State 34V. Relief and Rehabilitation 39

VI. Conclusion 48Annexures

1. Short accounts of incidents not included in Chapter II 502. List of accused 553. List of Dead (comparing official and unofficial figures) 59

4. A Running FIR 615. Socio-economic factsheet on Gujarat 62

6. RSS Ideology and Agenda in Gujarat 637. The Immediate National Context: preparations for temple

construction at ‘Ramjanmabhoomi’/Babri Masjid 658. A brief background to the rise of communalism in Gujarat 669. 1969 Riots in Ahmadabad 67

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Our team began the fact finding with avisit to Godhra. We met the station-master atGodhra, the S.P Panchmahals, and two survi-vors of the S6 compartment of the SabarmatiExpress. We also visited the bogies lying on asiding at Godhra railway station. Mr. JaisinhKatija, the Godhra Station Superintendent,told us that the karsevaks had been going toAyodhya from early February. Various BJPMLAs had been arranging for the tickets ofthe karsevaks from the special quota allottedto them, while many others travelledticketless. A Faizabad newspaper, JanMorcha, reported on 25 February that BajrangDal workers travelling to Ayodhya on theSabarmati Express had attacked Muslim pas-sengers with iron rods and trishuls, pulled offwomen’s burqas and forced them to say JaiShri Ram. A youth who protested against thisbehaviour was thrown off the train betweenPatranga and Rojagaon stations and Muslimmen were assaulted at Rudauli station.

The attack at Godhra happened when abatch of karsevaks was returning fromAyodhya. According to Jyoti Punwani (TheHindu, April 15) and Teesta Setalvad (Com-munalism Combat, March-April 2002, No. 77-78) both of who interviewed eyewitnesses andsurvivors, the Sabarmati Express arrived atGodhra station almost five hours late, at 7.43am instead of its scheduled time of 2.55 am.Some karsevaks had an altercation with Mus-lim tea vendors at the station over non-pay-ment, and pulled the beard of one such ven-dor, Siddique Bakr. A 17 year old girl, SophiyaKhan, who was standing on the platform withher mother and sister was pulled towards thetrain by a karsevak, but ultimately releasedwhen she cried out. Less than a km away fromthe station, someone pulled the chain of thetrain, which stopped just in front of Signalfaliya, a Muslim Ghanchi dominated locality.A mob of anywhere between 500 to 2000 gath-ered and began to throw stones at the train.

One specific compartment S6 was targeted. By8.30 a.m. S6 had gone up in flames and 58people were burnt dead, including 26 womenand 12 children. 1 died later in hospital, tak-ing the total toll to 59. It is not clear how manyof them were karsevaks.

By afternoon, the train minus two bogies(S6 and S5) was on its way to Ahmadabad.The bodies of the victims were brought toAhmadabad Civil Hospital in the early hoursof the 28 morning (2.30 am) where a crowd ofsome 500 people, including BJP Ministers, waswaiting for them.

We met Gayatri Panchal in Ahmadabad.Gayatri is a student of class 11, who lost herparents and two sisters in the train carnage.She said that there was intense stone throw-ing followed by burning rags being thrown intothe train. She and a friend of her sister’s, bothof whom were also in the S6 compartmentmanaged to survive by escaping from the win-dow, the bars of which had been loosened bythe stone-pelting and the fire. They thencrawled under the compartment to the otherside where the attackers were fewer innumber. They were able to defend themselvesby throwing stones etc. along with otherkarsevaks till the fire brigade and the policearrived. We also met VHP activist RakeshKumar Kantilal Patel, cable TV operator.While he survived the attack, his friend, 21year old Chirag, a factory worker and BajrangDal activist died when he went back into thetrain to save some people. Rakesh spoke of howthere had been some stone-pelting on the trainin Godhra station itself and how they had re-sponded in self defence. He also stated thatthe passengers had closed the vestibule doorbecause they feared the attackers would beable to board the train easily through it. Hehelped pull out Gayatri and others from themob and got away on the other side.

Initially, the Gujarat government an-nounced a cash compensation of Rs. 2 lakh for

I. The Immediate SparkAttack on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra

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the victims of the train attack and Rs. 1 lakhfor the victims of subsequent violence. Follow-ing public outcry, compensation was scaleddown to a uniform Rs. 1 lakh (Rs. 40,000/- incash and Rs. 60,000/- in Narmada SriniddhiBonds). While the BJP government has re-duced compensation, the VHP has been mak-ing political capital out of the pain of the vic-tims’ families. It wanted to carry the ashes ofthe dead around the country in an asthi yatrain order to whip up passions, but followingprotest by some NDA allies, made do withglossy pamphlets carrying photos of half burntnaked bodies. These are also up on display inthe Ahmadabad city VHP office. Thekarsevaks’ families have been given large, col-ourful, portrait photographs of the familymembers killed, with their names inscribedbelow.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi describedthe attack as a “pre-planned, violent act of ter-rorism” (PTI, 28 February) and Home Minis-ter Advani was quick to claim it was ISI spon-sored. The Railway Police, on the other hand,indicate that it was a spontaneous combustion,and they had no inkling of any large gather-ing prior to the attack. According to theGodhra Station Master, there had been spe-cial police arrangements when the karsevakshad boarded the train to go to Ayodhya in earlyFebruary, especially at Godhra station, seenby all authorities as a communally sensitivearea. On 27 February, however, extra policeforce was not provided and at the time of theattack there were only three policemen on theplatform, as it was the time for changing duty.The station Master also remarked that theBajrang Dal/VHP should have rememberedthat Godhra was a sensitive area before in-dulging in provocative acts. The Police Super-intendent of Panchmahals verified to us thatthe rumours of Hindu women being draggedoff the train and raped were completely false.

On 6 March the one-member Justice K.GShah Commission of Inquiry was set up toprobe the course of incidents leading up to theSabarmati Express fire, the question of

preplanning etc. It was only after public pro-test that the subsequent violence in the statewas added on to this primary brief. The Com-mission has not had a single sitting till dateand has recently extended the date for receiptof applications. On 21 May, the Commissionwas expanded to include Justice Nanavati.

Investigation of the Sabarmati Expressincident at Godhra is being conducted by thestate CID and the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS).Till 8 April, 19 bodies had still not been iden-tified, and evidence had been sent for DNAand other forensic testing. Compartment S6is totally burnt out, while only the connectingvestibule of Compartment S5 is burnt. Curi-ously, however, for a piece of such vital evi-dence the bogies were lying unattended. Peo-ple are free to walk into the compartment, putin and remove things as they please. If theinvestigating agencies were serious about theinvestigation, such crucial forensic evidenceshould have been sealed, as was done in thecase of the World Trade Centre in New York.Judging by the conversation of the policemanwho showed us the way there, the burnt com-partment is also rapidly becoming a pilgrim-age site and could be used to incite furthertension. We saw two pictures of Hindu godscarefully placed side by side on a seat, withonly the edges burnt, and a slightly burntHanuman chalisa just near the entrance. Bothof these items were at variance with the stateof the rest of the burnt bogey.

Curfew was declared in Godhra withinhours of the attack on the train. The policearrested about 62 Muslims including sevenminor boys in combing operations launchedin Signal faliya. They were booked underPOTO (Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance),but following a story in the Indian Express onbiased use of POTO against Muslims just be-fore it was enacted as law in parliament, thisparticular charge was dropped. However, all62 continue in jail. Among those accused areGodhra Municipal Councillors MohammadHussain Kalota, Abdul Dhantiya and SalimShaik. Further arrests were also made. On 23

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May, chargesheets were filed against 68 ac-cused.

In the midst of the curfew on 28 Febru-ary, the district collector ordered the demoli-tion of some 250-300 Muslim cabins/shops inSignal faliya and later, in Polan bazaar onMarch 3 and 4. This included two cabins thathad a high court stay against demolition. TheCollector said that the 28 February demoli-tions were done because of complaints fromthe railway authorities of the threat posed bythese shops, and the possibility of future at-tacks. The later demolitions were done as ananti-encroachment drive to help the armymove through these areas. The move is widelyperceived, however, as an anti-Muslim meas-ure, especially because it involved a largenumber of police personnel and vehicles andhappened at a time when the relief camp or-ganizers were pleading for vehicles and secu-rity to help them rescue Muslim villagers be-ing attacked by mobs. They were told that theadministration did not have sufficient man-power for this.

The Godhra train incident was indeedhorrible and condemnable. For the BJP, how-

ever, it has become merely an excuse to jus-tify the genocide which followed. (Accordingto Chief Minister Modi, quoted in Times ofIndia, March 2, 2002, “Every action has anequal and opposite reaction”). Our investiga-tions make clear, however, that while Godhramay have been the trigger, there was nothingspontaneous about the systematic manner inwhich mobs led by the Vishwa HinduParishad, Bajrang Dal and BJP went aboutkilling Muslims in Gujarat. Hatred againstand victimization of the minorities has beenbuilt up for several years now (see Annexure6). In 2000, a bandh called by the BJP to pro-test against the killing of Amarnath pilgrimsin Kashmir had similar consequences forGujarati Muslims, albeit on a much lesserscale. The Gujarat government must haveknown that the VHP bandh to protest the trainattack in Godhra would have even more seri-ous consequences. That they chose to supportthe bandh anyway is evidence of state com-plicity right at the start. In short, this kind ofcarnage would have been impossible withoutthe leadership provided by the sangh parivarand the sanction provided by the state.

II. Attacks on MuslimsA Sample of Incidents

We collected accounts of approximately 100incidents, which occurred in 76 places. In thissection we describe what happened in a sam-ple of such incidents. These have been chosento provide a sense of both the most horrificmassacres and the pattern of killings and prop-erty destruction in different districts:Panchmahals, Dahod, Mahesana,Sabarkantha, Anand, Kheda, Ahmadabad andGandhinagar. The names of those accused andsome of those killed in these incidents are in-corporated in Annexures 2 and 3. Some de-tails of all the places covered by the team, in-cluding those which are not listed below, arepresented in Annexure 1.

District Panchmahals

Pandarwada, Taluka KhanpurTRUST BETRAYED; 38 KNOWN DEAD

Pandarwada village has 500 to 600 Hindufamilies and about 70 to 80 Muslim families.The Hindus are Brahmans, Patels and Vaniaswho are prosperous wholesale traders and owncloth and grocery shops in the village. TheMuslims are largely agricultural labourers andsmall peasants, some of whom own land onboth sides of the canal that flows by the vil-lage. This land is fertile and according to the

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to shelter them. Mahendra Vakil told onegroup of some 150 Muslims, to hide in his oldhouse, while Jaswant Patel told another largegroup, to take shelter in his wheat fields. Ac-cording to the survivors they trusted thesemen because they were their neighbours.Mahendra Vakil told the Muslims to take inthe wood lying outside his house so that themob would not use it to set the house on fire.Then he led the mob attack and burnt thehouse down. Jaswant Patel similarly led themob in attacking, hacking and burning thosewho took shelter in his fields. At least 38 Mus-lims, including several children, were killedin these several attacks. Some of them wereguests from outside who were part of a wed-ding party. During the attack, eyewitnessesstate that a Bajrang Dal leader drove throughthe village on his motorcycle to see that Mus-lims did not run away and were executed ac-cording to their plans. Similarly, a Tata Sumowith men wearing saffron dupattas, wentthrough the village to supervise the killings.Even the Mamlatdar (Taluka DevelopmentOfficer, TDO) and the police were present, si-lently watching the massacre. Many of thosewho managed to escape were badly beaten up,stabbed with swords incurring severe injuries.Some had their heads pierced through withsharp iron rods (gupti). Some of them are stillin critical condition in hospitals in Godhra andLunawada. All the survivors of the attack in-cluding women and small children, fled fromthe village and hid wherever they could, inthe hills and jungle, some for 3 to 4 long days,without food or water, young children chew-ing the leaves of the trees to survive. Each hadto run and hide from violent mobs waiting forthem on all roads, and run a little more, andhide again, to save his or her life. In the proc-ess family members got separated from oneanother. Women saw their husbands hackedand burnt before their eyes. One found her 3year old son sitting next to the body of herhusband, whose face had been so badly dis-membered that only his adam’s apple was left.According to the survivors a large number ofpeople from the village are still missing, and

victims some of the village Hindus want toacquire control over it. Some of the Muslimsare also daily wage labourers with Hindu shopowners. The Hindu leaders of the village haveserved as sarpanch and taluka members andinclude professionals like a doctor, a lawyer,school teachers and the principal of the localhigh school. Several of them have been activein organizing VHP meetings for over a dec-ade. The main chowk (square) of the villagewhere Hindu and Muslim festivals were heldtogether earlier was named ‘Ayodhya chowk’after 6 December 1992 and Muslims stoppedusing it since then. In the past six months sev-eral VHP meetings were held where BajrangDal activists were also called. These activistswrote anti-Muslim slogans on the public wallsglorifying the Hindus and asking the Muslimsto go to Pakistan. At a meeting held about 15days before the ghastly massacres took placein the village on 1 March, provocative state-ments were made by BJP/VHP/Bajrang Dalleaders from loud-speakers to frighten Mus-lims and to instigate the Hindus to arm them-selves to confront the Muslims. The meetingwas attended by nearly 400 men and womenfrom Pandarwada and nearby villages.

The killings in Pandarwada were organ-ized in amazing detail. The local Hindu lead-ers had mobilized a mammoth 15,000 strongmob of Bhils of nearby villages who came on28 February and again on 1 March when theywent on a rampage for nearly the whole day.The mob looted the goods and took away Mus-lims livestock, destroyed and set fire to theirhouses and killed several of them as they ranto save their lives. It is said that they wereoffered Rs. 50,000 for every Muslim killed. Oneof the leaders of the mob was the franchiseeof the ration shop, Jaswant Patel, who is alsotaluka up-pramukh. He had not given anykerosene to the Muslim villagers since Id, andthis very kerosene was then given to the at-tackers.

In two major incidents during the attackon 1 March in Pandarwada, local leadersdeliberately deceived the Muslims by offering

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the number of people killed is much higherthan the officially recognized number.

Today, with their houses completely de-stroyed, their property looted and animalstaken away, their mosque and dargah burnt,there are no Muslims in Pandarwada. Theyare staying in camps at Godhra andLunawada. Some of the widows are severalmonths pregnant and have no families whocan take care of them and their children. Whentwo women went back to the village recently,to see their houses, the police asked them ifthey had gone there to die. None of the Mus-lims in the two camps have the courage everto return to their village. Little Noorunnisa,ten years old, her fingers cut, huddled up inGodhra camp, still dreams of becoming a doc-tor. Miles away, in Lunawada camp, 21 yearold Maksuda Salim who had been married onlya year and a half tells us shyly but persist-ently to write down her husband’s exact age,in the hope that she will get justice.

The PSI Khanpur has filed an official FIRand made some arrests, but nothing that in-spires confidence in their impartiality. AnIndian Express report of May 6 lists variousconditions imposed by the Hindus before theywill allow their Muslim neighbours to return,including that a Muslim doctor who owned acomputer be expelled, on the grounds that heused it to keep in touch with the ISI in Paki-stan. Their hatred is evidently well infusedwith paranoia.

Anjanwa, Taluka Santrampur:WOMEN AND CHILDREN THROWN INTO WELLS;

11 KNOWN DEAD

Anjanwa is a village with 39 Muslim andabout 500 other families. All except 3 Muslimfamilies have about 2 to 3 acres of land in thevillage. The Hindus (all backward caste,mostly Baria) and the adivasis also have land.Muslims have lived in this village sinceSantrampur was a princely state. The settle-ment is scattered with each family having ahouse on their own agricultural land. The

Muslim houses are in fact two kilometres awayfrom the main road. There are no newspapers,television or telephones in the village. Vehi-cles can go only up to a point on the undulat-ing kuchha road in the village. The houses areaccessible only on foot. The sprawling villageis surrounded by hills on all sides.

With no communication facilities Anjanwahad no news of the Godhra incident. On March2, two Muslim shops belonging to Idris AbdulSheikh and Burhan Abdul Sheikh were burnt.The owners used to commute from Lunawadaso were not there at the time. On 3 March, amob of 500 men came in the morning from theeast, armed with weapons and beating drums.They burnt the mosque and then the Muslimhouses. Then they went off at 3 pm and cameback again at 6 p.m. again with the frighten-ing beating of drums and shouting ‘Maaro!Kaapo! Baalo!’ (Kill! Hack! Burn!) and stayedtill the early hours of the next morning. Ac-cording to the sarpanch, one of the attackerswas wearing a helmet, and some others hadcovered their faces. They were dressed inshirts, trousers, boots, socks, and one of themwas carrying a camera bag.

The Muslims who had been hiding in thehills during the attack, returned after the mobleft, in the early hours of March 4. They askedthe sarpanch to call for police protection. Ac-cording to the sarpanch he called the CongressMLA (an adivasi) of the area on morning of 4March, who in turn told the police. The policesaid they would send a force. When it did notarrive he tried the police again and was passedbetween the Mamlatdar and the PSI, each ofwhom said it was the other person’s responsi-bility. The police van finally did arrive ataround 7.30–8.00 p.m. on 4 March. However,some villagers told them that nothing waswrong, and unable to see signs of the attackfrom the main road, the police returned toSantrampur. On the 5th morning the sarpanchonce again made frantic phone calls to theSantrampur police station, and was told thata van would come to collect the villagers. Heasked the Muslims to collect in the village high

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school so that they could leave immediatelywhen the police came.

In the evening two sets of mobs came fromopposite directions and attacked the waitingMuslims. As the Muslims ran to save them-selves in different directions, sections of themob followed them. 42-year-old Rukaiya Gafurand her two daughters were not able to runfast enough. They were surrounded by the mobat one end of the village. Rukaiya was bru-tally hacked to death with swords. Her bodywas thrown into a dry well (known as WazirAmdu’s well). Her two daughters, 13 and oneand a half years old respectively were also at-tacked, but managed to survive. Two men, oneover 75 years old and moving slowly with dif-ficulty and another too sick to run were alsocaught by the mob. They were burnt alive inthe fields. The bodies of Rukaiya and the twomen were recovered on 6 March when the col-lector and SP visited the village.

Some women and small children who wereunable to escape were gheraoed by a sectionof the mob near the sarpanch’s well. They wereattacked with swords and dharias, and elevenof them were thrown into the well. Threewomen managed to survive in the crevices ofthe well and were pulled out later by the army,which arrived on the 5th evening. Eight oth-ers who had been hacked and thrown died,including four children. Their bodies werepulled out on 6 March.

The army took the survivors to Godhra andLunawada camps on 5 March. Some peoplewho had hidden in the fields and hills aroundAnjanwa were rescued on 6 March. The sur-vivors have identified 27 men of their own vil-lage and of the surrounding villages who ledthe mob. The Muslim fields are now deserted,their houses burnt. Their cattle roam stray,at least those which have not yet been takenaway by other villagers. The survivors, likethose in Pandarwada, are unwilling to returnwith many of the killers at large. Two FIRswere lodged in the case and some arrests havebeen made on the basis of the names of ac-cused given by the survivors.

Mora-Suliath, taluka Morvad-HadapFROM REEL TO REAL LIFE CHAUVINISM;

SAVED BY THE ARMY; NO DEATHS.Mora and Suliath are two villages, 1 km

apart and are commonly referred to as Mora–Suliath. Mora has a total of 300-400 houses,of which 50 are Muslim houses. The rest areRabaris, Soni, Panchal, Harijan and Bhoi.Suliath consists entirely of Bhil adivasis.There are two faliyas in Mora where Muslimsmainly live: masjid faliya and bus stand faliya.

The villagers heard that two Sindhis fromGodhra had come to Mora in jeeps on the nightof 28 February and given money and liquor toadivasis to kill Muslims. They also held meet-ings in Methral and Suliath to plan attacks.As a result of this planning, a mob of about1000-1500 adivasis from nearby villages -Methral (10 km away from Mora), Vadodar(10 km), Dauli (6 km), Navagam (5 km),Sagwada (5 km), Bhata (4-5 km), Anjanwa (10km), Godhar (15 km) - came to Mora villageon the 1st around 2.00 pm. About a hundredMuslim men and boys confronted them withstones and there was stone throwing on bothsides for a while. Then the adivasis ran away.At night they went around in lashkaris(intervillage/city mini vans) and tempos andcollected adivasis from surrounding villages.They surrounded Mora at 9 pm and startedburning outlying houses, continuing till 3-4am. 25-30 houses were burnt that night. Themasjid faliya people were all gathered in themasjid at this time, but the bus station faliyapeople were in their houses.

The next morning on 2 March, a much big-ger crowd of 10-15,000 adivasis and Hinduscame at 10.00 am and started burning andlooting houses. The crowd surrounded themasjid with burning tyres and wood and setfire to it. There were 150 people trapped in-side the masjid for two hours. All the peoplefrom the bus stand faliya – again about 150 -were gathered in the house of Haji Isak AbdulMajeed, and this house was also surroundedand set on fire. The mob was shouting, “Wedon’t want Muslims, kill them.” At 5 p.m. the

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military came from Godhra and fired on themob, who eventually dispersed, and rescuedthe trapped Muslims. Had the army arrivedeven half an hour later, the Muslims wouldall have died of asphyxiation. Given the crowd,the army told them that they must choose be-tween lives and valuables, so people got intothe trucks without any thing at all. Inevita-bly, it was all then looted.

The masjid has been badly desecrated anddestroyed – the mob wrote ‘Bhattiji Maharajki Jai, and ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on the walls, andinitially put up a saffron flag on it. If evidencewas needed of the kind of mental frameworkthat Bollywood jingoism reflects and produces,one need look no further than the lines liftedfrom Maa Tujhe Salaam and scripted on themasjid walls: Dudh Mango to kheer denge,Mora (Kashmir) mango to chir denge. Peoplefrom Mora have now returned to their villageat the Collector’s instance.

Delol, taluka Kalol:CONVERSION THROUGH CREMATION;

24 KNOWN DEAD, 13 YEAR OLD RAPED

Delol village is located at a distance ofabout 5 km from Kalol taluka town. It hadabout 60 Muslim households and about 500-600 Hindu households. On 28 February, theday of the Gujarat bandh, a crowd of about2000-3000 (mostly outsiders) came at about10 a.m. and attacked, looted, burnt and de-stroyed the mosque, shops and establishmentsof the Muslims and left at 4 p.m. Later at nightIsmailbhai was dragged out of his house by acrowd which included people from his own vil-lage, made to go through the village twice witha garland of shoes and asked to say ‘Jai ShriRam’. When he refused to say this, he wasdoused with kerosene and burnt to death inthe early hours of the morning.

At 10 a.m. on 1 March, a larger mob ofabout 3000 to 4000 came to the village shout-ing, “Today is Bharat Bandh – drive the Mus-lims out, hack them, kill them.” A local BJPMLA Prabhasingh Chouhan was involved inthe attack. In the late afternoon, a group of

about 50-60 Muslims who had taken shelterwith the Hindus in the village were chased bya large group of attackers to the main roadand from there to the fields. The fleeing Mus-lims knew many of the members of the mob,but disregarding all their pleas, 8 of them werekilled. In another incident on the 1st morn-ing, a family of 11 members who had hiddenin a Hindu house on the night before was at-tacked. They first ran towards the Delol busstand, chased by attackers who hit them withdharias and sticks, many of whom were knownto the fleeing Muslims. They then ran towardsthe dry bed of the river Goma, and managedto hide under a tree all day. At night a crowdof 500 to 700 people surrounded them, com-prising people from Delol as well as surround-ing villages. First they told the petrified Mus-lims that they would not kill them and gavethem water to drink. Then they asked themto leave. Just as they started to leave, theyattacked them from behind and hacked andburnt 10 people. According to one account, 13year old Yasmeen, the daughter of Mohd.Ibrahim was gang raped before she was killed.In a symbolic act of conversion, the dead wereput into a pile and set on fire. Ten and twelveyear old Hameed and Aijaz, the sons of KulsumAyyub (who was also killed) were made to goaround the pyre and shout ‘Jai Shree Ram’.They were then shoved into the fire. Only onesurvivor, Javed, managed to reach the mainroad, where someone he knew helped him toreach Kalol.

The victims have filed complaints with theKalol PS on 16 and 18 March, and say theycan and will return to the village only if theaction is taken against the guilty. The culpritscontinue to threaten the victims.

From Delol to Kalol, taluka Kalol:ATTACKS ON THE HIGHWAY; 13 DEAD, 2 RAPED

At about 4 p.m. on 1 March one tempodriven by Firoz Rasulbhai Shaikh, filled withabout 20 men, 11 women and 11 children, allMuslims from Delol, fleeing towards Kalolwere attacked by a large Hindu mob nearAmbika Society, on the outskirts of Kalol. The

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mob had blocked the road using barrels,stones, heaps of sand and a car. In attempt-ing to escape, the tempo skidded and over-turned. As people fell out of the tempo, 13 ofthem (5 women and 8 men including thedriver) were killed by the mob with swordsand dharias amidst shouts of “Maaro! Kaapo!Baalo!” (Kill! Hack! Burn!). The mob thenburnt the dead bodies along with the tempo.The rest of the Muslim men on the tempomanaged to escape. The children begged themob to spare their lives by falling at their feet.The children and the surviving 6 women thenran on the road towards the Goma river, witha part of the crowd following them.

The fleeing women all got sword injuriesas the 15 odd attackers swung their swords atthem. While the other women were able to runsome distance further, the attackers caughthold of Sultana (age 22 w/o Firoz, the tempodriver) who was also carrying her three-year-old son with her. Her son fell down andwatched, crying loudly, while his mother wasstripped naked and raped. Sultana lost con-sciousness after she was raped and cut with asword on her left leg. The men then left herfor dead. Sultana’s aunt Haleema ReshmaAbdul, was hiding in the bushes nearby andis an eyewitness to these happenings. WhenSultana regained consciousness she was leftwith only the top of her salwar-kurta. Sultana,her aunt and her son then moved towardsDelol. They went to a Hindu’s (Baria) housewhere her husband had left their 11 monthold daughter earlier while fleeing. He got Sul-tana a salwar for her to wear from her house.Sultana, Haleema and Sultana’s two children,remained in hiding in the fields for two days.Then on Monday, 4 March they managed toreach the Kalol camp. No medical examina-tion was possible in the circumstances, andnone was conducted. Eyewitnesses state thatMumtaz, another woman from Delol, who diedin the attack was raped before being killed asshe was fleeing from the tempo.

Survivors recognise some of the attackersand have named them in their complaints sub-mitted to the Kalol PS. The Manager of Peo-

ples Bank J.P.Shah, owner of Vijay talkies,Jaggubhai were amongst the attackers. Theincident of the burning of a tempo nearAmbika Society, near Kalol, is part of a com-bined FIR in which three other incidents havebeen clubbed together. The FIR mentions only10 killed while according to eyewitnesses atleast 13 persons were killed and two wereraped, with one rape victim surviving. Nocrime of rape is registered with the police de-spite written complaints and it does not evenfind mention in the combined FIR. Two per-sons have been arrested in connection with thetempo attack. None of the main accused havebeen arrested.

Eral, taluka Kalol:MOB TOOK MONEY TO SAVE LIVES AND THEN

KILLED; 7 KILLED, 2 RAPED

On 28 February, mobs began to attack Mus-lims in Eral and villages around. Peoplestarted to flee from the villages. However, invillage Eral, Madina’s family (husband, chil-dren, brother in law’s family etc.) hid in thefields and temporary huts made by farmers tokeep watch on their crops. The maize crop wasstanding in the fields. The mob found themon 3 March. About 150 people surroundedtheir group of 12 people. The attackers in-cluded some persons from their own village.They were carrying swords, guptis etc. TheMuslim family then gave the attackers all themoney they had - about Rs. 10,000 and beggedthem not to kill them. The mob took themoney, then launched their attack. Madinasurvived because she managed to hide in thefields of standing maize and could not be seenby the attackers. She saw them kill 7 peoplein front of her and also chop off a two-year-oldchild Taufiq’s thumb. From where she hid, shealso saw them rape her own daughterShabana, and cut off her breast before killingher. Shabana was about 15 feet away from her.She continuously heard the desperate cries formercy uttered by the members of her family.The entire attack took half an hour. After rap-ing and killing, the attackers set fire to thebodies. Madina hid in the fields for one hour

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after the attackers left. Child witnesses, Taufiq(2years old), Khushboo (3years old) and Heena(7years old) have also corroborated this ac-count and also indicate that one other womanRukaiya (sister in law of Madina) was prob-ably also raped.

The police arrived one and a half hours af-ter the incident. Post mortem examination wasconducted on the spot by doctors from MalavPrimary Health Centre and the bodies werenot handed over to the family. Madina hasnamed several accused in the FIR lodged onthe basis of her complaint in Kalol PS. (FIRno.41/2002). Some arrests have taken place.Charges of rape have not been included in thecomplaint.

They have so far been given Rs. 1200/- oddrupees as compensation for household goods.

Boru, taluka Kalol:POLICE CAN’T FIND THE VICTIMS THOUGH THEY

LIVE ACROSS THE ROAD; 1 KNOWN DEAD.Boru is about 5 km from Kalol. It has about

165 Sunni Muslim households and an equalnumber of Hindu house holds. It is the onlyvillage in its immediate neighbourhood withany Muslim houses. Among Hindus, Bariasare the largest in number with about 70 house-holds, followed by Christian Vankars (50 households). There are also sizeable numbers ofHarijans, Banjaras, Bharots, Bharwads,Naiks, and a few households of Brahmans,Sutars and Solankis. About one-fourth of theMuslims have some land, while another fourthare agricultural labours. The rest run smallshops or are engaged in trades likeautorickshaw driving and masonry. Some ofthem have menial jobs in Gujarat IndustrialDevelopment Corporation (GIDC). All the Hin-dus have agricultural land. One of the leadersof the attacking mob, Shankar SinhChandrasinh has 40 acres, a tractor, tubewelletc. He lost the panchayat elections to a Con-gress sarpanch. He blamed Muslims for sup-porting his opponent, and is said to have gonearound villages mobilising people to attack inrevenge.

When we visited the village, it was eerie –rows of burnt houses filled with rubble. Theshells of the few pukka houses were still stand-ing but everything else had gone. We also sawtwisted burnt autos and the desecratedmosque. The Kamal Baba Dargah, some dis-tance away is broken and villagers say that aphoto of Hanuman was initially installed. Thathas now been taken out, but Jai Hanuman andRam are still written across it. An annual melais held at the Dargah where both Muslims andHindus from as far away as Bombay congre-gate. Traders (including Hindus) do businessof approximately 1 lakh at this mela everyyear. All this is affected.

On the night of 27 February, a meeting washeld at Chatra Singh Khatubhai’s house toplan attacks on Muslims. The attack startedon 28 February at 9 p.m. when people fromneighbouring villages around Boru came andburnt a paan-beedi cabin. They saw the Mus-lims patrolling the masjid so they went away.On 1 March at about 6.30 pm, a mob of about6000-7000 men from the neighbouring villagesof Bhadruli Buzrak, Bakrol, Kalol, and Boruki Muvadi came to Boru and were joined byresidents of Boru village. The mob first lootedand then burnt Muslim houses as well as themasjid and madrassa, shouting ‘Maaro, Kaapo,Baalo’ all the while. The Muslims fled to thefields, where they stayed all night and all daytill the 2nd evening. Noor Mohammad man-aged to flee to Kalol with his family and in-formed the Kalol Muslim Panch. They in turnreported the happenings to the Kalol policestation on the 2nd morning. 1 police truck, 2trucks and 6 tempos organised by the KalolMuslim Panch visited Boru at 5 p.m andbrought approximately 1000 people to Kalolcamp.

A group of 40-45 people were left behind inthe fields. The next day at 10 am, a few of themwent to the Sarpanch, Raju Baria’s house toask him to phone Halol. When they went backto the fields, they were followed by a group of30-40 people. While running, ShamsuddinMajeed Bhai Belim fell down and was killed

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with swords and dharias. The others managedto run away, and reached Kalol through a cir-cuitous route. The rest hiding in the fields wererescued by the army on 3 March.

On 5 March the Boru Muslims filed onecommon complaint with all their signatures,but the police refused to accept this. The com-plaint was then sent by registered post. Theyhave not got a copy of the FIR. The police atKalol police station claim that they have beenunable to meet the victims, even though thestation is just across the road from the refu-gee camp.

District Dahod

Randhikpur, taluka Limkheda:WHERE INTER-RELIGIOUS MARRIAGE IS A

CRIME, BUT INTER-RELIGIOUS RAPE IS FINE;20 KNOWN DEAD, RAPE OF PREGNANT WOMEN

Randhikpur is a small village with 60 to70 Muslim families who are poor agriculturallabourers. Some have a few bighas of land,some keep cattle, and some have petty shopsof kabadi etc. The village witnessed commu-nal tensions in 1998 following inter-religiousmarriages, when the VHP had alleged thatHindu girls were abducted by Muslim boys.Some Muslim houses were burnt, and goodsand animals looted. The Muslims migrated toBaria for 3 months, but were called back bythe Hindus who said that they would repaythe damages. When they returned to the vil-lage, however, they discovered that all theHindus wanted was their votes in the localpanchayat elections. There is an RSS shakhain the village. The local Hindu leaders, Vaniasand Brahmans, have incorporated lower castemen of blacksmith and barber communitiesas well as some adivasis into their fold. Thepresent sarpanch is PA to the local BJP MLAwho is an adivasi. The Muslims have largelyvoted for the Congress in elections.

This time the devastation was of a differ-ent order altogether. On the morning of 28

February thousands of adivasis came from out-side villages and started setting fire to theMuslim houses. Even as the local villagersassured the Muslims that nothing would hap-pen to them, some among them led the attack.All the Muslim houses, in three separatemohallas of the village, were burnt and razedto the ground by the mob. The village is sur-rounded by hills on all sides. The attackershad blocked all the roads. The Muslim men,women, some pregnant, and children ran indifferent directions to save their lives. About100 to 150 women and children, ran and tookshelter at the adivasi sarpanch’s house inneighbouring Jhamri village for 3 days. Dur-ing the day they would run to the hills andhide themselves. In Randhikpur, one ChamraMagan sheltered some 5 women and children,before they were all finally rescued by the po-lice. A group of 17 ran from village to village(Chundagi to Khudra to Chaparwad). One ofthem, Shamim, delivered a baby girl at amosque where they were taking shelter for thenight. The next morning she again set out withthe baby in her arms. Her clothes were soiled,and she was hardly able to walk. At Khudra,they stayed with adivasis who protected themand gave Shamim clothes to change, but theyhad to leave again. As they were going fromChaparwad to Panivel, village men fromRandhikpur and Chaparwad came in two cars,gang raped the women and then killed them.Shamim who had delivered a day before andher child were also killed. Bilkees, a five monthpregnant young woman was gang raped bythree men from her village. Her three-year-old daughter was snatched away from her andkilled in front of her. The only survivor of thisgroup of 17, she spent a day and a night alonein the hills and then was brought to theGodhra camp by the Limkheda police onMarch 5 where the rest of the Randhikpur vic-tims are staying. No traces of the remains ofthe dead bodies, not even the ashes of the peo-ple burnt alive, are left behind for the rela-tives to recover. The victims allege that thepolice was present in the village but they didnothing. Indian Express (May 6) reports that

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the Hindu leaders will only allow Muslimsback if they drop rape charges.

Sanjeli, taluka Jhalod:ADIVASI MOBILISATION, STONING OF POLICE

CONVOY ESCORTING MUSLIMS;16 KNOWN DEAD

Sanjeli is a large village with about 700-800 houses. About 50 percent of the popula-tion is Muslim. This includes about 65 Bohrafamilies who are mainly shopkeepers and trad-ers. It has a police outpost with 5 policemen.

On 28 February a group of adivasi youthon their way home after a wedding partystoned some Muslim houses in Nani Sanjeli.There was some retaliatory firing, in which 8adivasi boys were injured, 2 requiring minorsurgery. They were taken to hospital inLimkheda and a complaint and FIR lodged byDalsukh Maharaj, a local VHP adivasi activ-ist. He used this incident, however, to goaround villages telling people that 70-80 boyshad been injured in Muslim firing and thatthe bodies of 8 girls had been found in theSanjeli masjid. He distributed boxes of ban-gles to the sarpanchs of villages to incite themto send their people.

Owing to this and other VHP mobilisationa crowd of about 2500-3000 people came to thevillage on 1March afternoon at around 3 pmand started throwing glass and burning theoutlying houses in Oli faliya, Jhalod road, NaviVasahat, Mandli road etc. About a hundredor 150 houses were burnt that day, and theirresidents fled to the masjid. The mob stayedoutside the village all night, throwing stones,shouting and shooting arrows.

Next morning on 2 March, a Peace Com-mittee rally was called at the village centerby the VHP/Bajrang Dal leaders to which someMuslim elders also went. After the meeting,the VHP leaders went around neighbouringvillages ostensibly to spread the peace mes-sage, but actually it turns out in hindsight, tomobilize crowds. Soon after, a mob estimatedanywhere between 8-15,000 descended fromneighbouring villages up to a distance of 10km away (Methan, Vandeli, Mander etc.),

armed not only with bows and arrows andcatapults, but also with private guns, shout-ing Bolo Jai Shri Ram. The mob had come injeeps and Tata Sumos.

According to the ex-ruler of Sanjeli estate,Kalika Kumar, who witnessed the entire at-tack, the crowd stood outside the village for awhile waiting for a signal. The first charge wasthen led by 10 or 12 villages from theLimkheda side, including the SRP jawans whohad been assigned to Jivabhai Damor, BJPMLA for his personal security. They had au-tomatic rifles. Most of those who had armscame from Methan and Vandeli village asthere are many ex-servicemen in that area.Ilyas bhai Tura, a young driver in the PWD,was shot in the chest at close range byBhaktabhai Salubhai Khant of Methan village.His widow with 4 young children to supporthas got a miserable compensation of Rs.40,000. Seventy year old Zubeida bibi and 65year old Morawala Salam Mohammad werealso shot dead. Some others were injured bygun shot in the chest and legs.

The crowd started burning houses again.The majority of the Muslim houses weretorched on 2nd and 3rd after being looted.However some looting went on for 5-6 days.Totally 600 shops and houses were burnt. Achurch in Sanjeli was also burnt and the localpastor badly beaten up when he tried to stopthe mobs from attacking Muslims.

The local police did nothing. Both on the 1and 2 March, when Muslim villagers appealedto the police, they said they had orders only toshoot Muslims who violated curfew, not Hin-dus, and chased them away.

All this while, the Muslims were shelter-ing in their respective mosques (Sunni andBohra), or with some dalit families. The DSPJadeja arrived at Sanjeli at about 5-5.30 p.mon 2 March with a posse of policemen and didsome effective firing. On seeing him the mobmoved away from the ‘central’ area. The DSPdid not have enough vehicles to transport eve-ryone to Dahod, but there were some 8 largeMuslims vehicles still intact and Kalika

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Kumar also helped by arranging two trucksfrom Hindus. There were road blocks consist-ing of electric poles and nails and large mobsall along the way. The SP sent advance par-ties to check which roads were blocked, andtook the vehicles by a longer circuitous routeon smaller roads to try and avoid some of these.Stone throwing continued as people were go-ing away in trucks – Kadar MohammadBhatiyara, a tailor, had his jaw dislocated bya heavy stone. At least six children rangingfrom the ages of 2-6, and one middle agedwoman, were stoned to death en route fromSanjeli to Dahod.

One Tempo (709) containing some 80-100people had a puncture a km out of Sanjeli,caused by the large nails on the roads, andthen another puncture 8 km away near vil-lage Rainiya. At Rainiya, they were attackedby a Tata Sumo containing 9 men equippedwith swords, stones and iron pipes. Four peo-ple who had got down, all Bohras were killedand burnt. Two women – Zainab benBurhanbhai Mulla Meetha, and FatimaMurtaza Gadbadawala – were also raped be-fore being killed. The killers included leadersof the VHP and Bajrang Dal and were identi-fied by some six people hiding in the bushes,who managed to get away and walked toSukhsar police station. A seventy year old manand his 65 year old wife were chased and killedwith stones at Rainiya.

The rest managed to clamber on the tempowhich got away. A few km on, it had to be aban-doned entirely because of road blocks. Fortu-nately, everyone managed to escape on foot.The remaining ten vehicles reached Dahodsafely. The majority of Sanjeli refuges wereat Dahod but by 24 April were made to go backand camp in their burnt houses. Compensa-tion of Rs 1,00,000 ( Rs 40,000 in cash and Rs60,000 in fixed deposits) had been paid onlyto the kin of three deceased persons as of 7April.

An FIR dated 5/3/2002 has been lodged byRahimbhai Sattarbhai Seth of Sanjeli into theincident of 2 March in Jhalod PS. Initially the

police were reluctant to even take this FIR butwere forced to when their lawyer said he wouldsend the complaint directly to the magistrate.The names of the accused have not been in-corporated in the FIR. The victims of Sanjelihave named almost 150 persons who wereleading the mob that attacked them. No ac-tion has been taken against the accused. WhenRahimbhai went to take a copy of his FIR hefound that the police had (illegally) incorpo-rated a statement to the effect that the Mus-lims had fired upon the adivasis on 28 Febru-ary and the mob had attacked the Muslims inresponse to this provocation. He has filed anaffidavit to rectify this.

District Sabarkantha

Kidiyad, taluka Modasa:8 ‘OFFICIALLY’ DEAD, 67 ‘UNOFFICIALLY’ DEAD,

BURNT ALIVE IN A TEMPO

Kidiyad village has about 45 households ofMuslims and 200 of Harijans, Bharwads andThakars. On 28 February and 1 March, reportsabout burning of houses in neighbouring vil-lages like Haloder started pouring in and ten-sion kept increasing. When they asked for po-lice protection, PSI Mukesh Patel of MalpurPS sent only 1 policeman to supposedly pro-vide effective police protection. On 2 Marchthe mobile police armed with 303 rifles cameto the village at about 3 p.m. and told theMuslims to run to save their lives as theywould not be able to provide protection. Thesarpanch requested the police to escort themtill Malpur but the police refused.

The scared Muslims then started trying tocross the rivers Eru and Vatrak across thedryer parts of the river- bed. After trying foralmost an hour, they returned to the villageby 3.45 p.m. or so where they were confrontedby a mob of about 400-500 people from theirown village and outside, shouting “Kill them!Hack them! Don’t let them go!” The mob wascarrying dharias, swords and trishuls. Therewere 224 Muslims in the village at the time,

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as well as 20 guests from outside. Desperateto flee, 118 of these boarded two tempos andset off. Those who could not do so, hid in thefields around the village.

About 34 people had boarded the firsttempo (GJ 17 T 9283) which left at about 4p.m. to try to make its way towards Modasa.Zakirbhai Shamsuddin Sindhi was driving thistempo. The sarpanch of Kidiyad, SaleembhaiJamubhai Sindhi was also there on this tempo.They reached the Godhra - Modasa highwayand found their road blocked at Malpur withstones and about a 1000 people all around whostoned the tempo, breaking windows and in-juring the people inside. However, the tempomanaged to turn towards Lunawada, andcrossed Limbadiya Chowkri in Panchmahalsdistrict. On the way, from Naroda village nearLimbadiya, a jeep and a motorcycle (with 3riders) started following them. One of the pil-lion riders had a sword in his hand and theother had a dharia. The road was blocked atvarious places by large trees and the temp hadto take various twists and turns. As theypassed through villages the tempo was stonedsporadically. Finally between Sanparia and

Badesara villages the motorcycle overtook thetempo and forced it to stop. As those in thetempo tried to jump off and escape, they wereattacked by the men on the motorcycle. As thedriver, Zakirbhai Shamsuddin Sindhi, wasattacked, his 4-month-old son Mohsin fell fromhis hands and died. He picked up his deadchild and ran. The people ran towardsKaaranta village across the Bhadrod rivernearby, hoping to take shelter in the dargahthere. The Patels of Sanparia, however, cameout in support of the attackers and killed 6people. One woman, Sarabibi, who is an eye-witness to the murders, was able to hide be-neath a tarpaulin sheet in a shed behind aPatel house. In fact the Patel’s wife gave hershelter till the police arrived to take her tothe Modasa relief camp 2 days later. Othersurvivors somehow managed to reach the se-curity of the Kaaranta dargah. The driver,Zakir Mian finally buried his dead child there.The survivors complained to the police whenthey reached the relief camp at Modasa 10days later.

The second tempo (no. GJ 9T 6439) leftKidiyad at about 4.15 p.m. in order to try to

DALSUKH MAHARAJ:

A Case Study of ‘Vanvasi’ mobilisation

We met Dulsukh Maharaj, at his ashram in Sanjeli. Dalsukh is an ayurvedic vaidya, runs ahostel for school children and is a member of the Akhil Bharaitya Sant samiti and the VHP MargdarshakMandal.

Maharaj, a Bhil himself, was of the view that, ‘Bhils are Hindus from the beginning’. He assertedthat the attack by the Bhils/vanvasis on Sanjeli was “swaymbhu” (spontaneous-on their own) as theyhad been oppressed for ages and have now risen. Like a text book case illustrating the role ofpropaganda and rumour with respect to women in mobilizing people, Maharaj asserted that, ‘Muslimstook “our” women and have “violated” at least 100 Bhil-vanvasi women in Sanjeli alone’. “Muslimsconsider “our” widows to be everyones’ property”. In Godhra Urdu School, “they” sent the Muslimteachers and students away and killed two Hindu women teachers and put iron rods in their vaginas

Maharaj also spouted axioms about the character of Islam and Muslims: “In the Quran, it iswritten, Work for four months and cut up kafirs for eight months in a year”. He also stated that80,000/- rupees had been collected from Sanjeli alone to plan for the train attack at Godhra andclaimed there are receipts. Needless to say, not one name of the 100 women violated in Sanjeli wasgiven, not one receipt of the 80,000/- supposedly collected was produced and no verifiable details ofthe alleged killing of two Hindu women teachers supplied.

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reach Modasa. 84 people, including a largenumber of women and 32 children, werepacked tightly into the cramped tempo. Heavystone pelting started from village PunjaraniMuvadi. When the tempo reached ChoriwadCrossing, a crowd of about one thousand wasstanding there. All other roads were blocked.In desperation, Ayub Mian, the driver turnedthe tempo towards Lunawada, Panchmahalsdistrict. From Babaliya four motorcycles, ajeep, a truck and a tempo (No. GJ7Y 2131)started chasing the tempo. On one of the fourmotorcycles was Naresh Bhai, a resident ofGogawada. As soon the tempo reachedLimbadiya Chowkri, about 15 km fromLunawada, the motorcyclists overtook thetempo and fired at the front tyre, which burstbringing the tempo to a standstill.

A large armed crowd which had beenalerted by the passing of the first tempo a lit-tle while earlier, surrounded the tempo alongwith the pursuers. The attackers were wield-ing dharias, trishuls, swords, as well as guns.About 16 people including the driver of thetempo managed to run away. These weremostly men with the exception of one womanand two small children. They hid in the fieldsand saw what followed. After hacking at thosewho remained on the tempo with swords, theattackers threw tyres on them, poured petroland set the tempo on fire. Eight people whotried to jump off were fired at and hacked todeath. One woman, Arzoo Bibi Ayub MianSindhi, sitting in the driver’s cabin was alsoattacked when she jumped off but she survivedalbeit with severe injuries by pretending tobe dead. Those inside the tempo were com-pletely burnt to ashes, as the fire raged forover two hours.

According to the S.P (Panchmahals) only 8deaths have been registered in the case as onlythe bodies of those killed while trying to jumpoff have been found in a half burnt condition.In fact Arzoo Bibi was told to identify thesebodies and could only identify 1 of the 8 bod-ies as that of Pirzada Gulabuddin Imam Mian,a resident of Karanta (80 years old) who had

come to Kidiyad on 27 February to offer Fri-day prayers. The other 7 bodies were charredbeyond recognition. Yet there are eyewitnesseswho state categorically that 59 other peoplewere charred to death, bringing the total to67. The dead included 37 women and 30 men,of whom 15 were boys below 12 years. 4 in-fants less than a year old perished in the at-tack. The eyewitnesses have also identified theaccused.

Complaints have been given to all authori-ties by survivors and also to the Khanpur PSinvestigating the case. The driver of the tempoAyubbhai Subha Mian Sindhi is the main com-plainant. In the absence of any concerted ef-fort to collect evidence and locate bone frag-ments if any, the huge disparity between eye-witness accounts and the official story re-mains.

District Headquarters Himmatnagar:BURNING BY THE LIST,

NO MATTER IF ITS OUTDATED

The Godhra incident occured on 27 Febru-ary. By 9 a.m. on the morning of 28 February,VHP/BJP leaders with lists of Muslim ownedestablishments had arrived all the way fromBhavnagar, a six hour journey fromHimmatnagar. A large mob was organised andit systematically went about looting and burn-ing Muslim shops, factories and showrooms,all of which were closed for the bandh. 232establishments were burnt in Himmatnagartown. Eyewitnesses state that most of themain perpetrators of the arson were outsid-ers, though local VHP members did partici-pate in the attacks. The shops burnt includedthe grand showroom of Harsoliya Motorsowned by Bohras who have been inHimmatnagar for 9 generations. This is thefirst time that they have faced such an attack.

The attackers were intent on followingquite literally the directions that they hadbeen given – for instance, Raj Auto Traderson Dahod Road owned by a Hindu fromGodhra was set on fire since a Muslim part-ner was mentioned in the list. They did not

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listen to onlookers who pleaded that it wasindeed Hindu owned. Similarly, a soft drinkfactory earlier owned by a Muslim,Saleembhai, but recently bought by a KutchiPatel was burnt down, despite the owner’spleas, since the factory was marked as Mus-lim-owned.

Some of the Muslim shop and factory own-ers who suffered losses have gone to court toget their own complaints filed as FIRs . Thepolice have not yet complied with the courtdirections to do so.

By mid March, just as the communal ten-sion was beginning to ebb, the following inci-dent led to an escalation of tension in the en-tire region. On 19 or 20 March, Kamlesh Patel,a local youth, parked his scooter outside aBohra shop, went to the market, and then sim-ply disappeared. His body was found on 21March a short distance away fromHimmatnagar. The Bohra shop owner waspicked up for questioning and wild rumoursthat Muslims had killed Kamlesh started cir-culating. The VHP made this into a big issue,held many meetings, and fanned communaltensions. Several prominent Muslims in thetown wanted a thorough investigation to getto the root of the matter. This was, however,not done and rumours and communal tensionscontinue to fester. Beginning from earlyMarch, the VHP continues to distribute leaf-lets advocating boycott of Muslims.

Madhopur Kampa, taluka Bayad:TRUCKS AND TRUCK DRIVERS BURNT,

SADGAL VILLAGE HINDUS HELP THE VICTIMS;5 DEAD

On 28 February at about 9.30 a.m. severaltrucks were stopped on the Godhra-Modasahighway by a mob of 2-3000 people atMadhopur Kampa near Bayad taluka town inSabarkantha. The Gujarat Bandh was ob-served on this stretch of the highway by burn-ing 5 truck drivers alive and setting 20 truckson fire. Kasimbhai, the driver of one of thetrucks (GJ 9V 1654) owned by G.A. Suthar ofModasa, was first badly beaten by the mob as

he got down from the truck. He managed toescape and drag himself behind the wall of anearby petrol pump. He was injured and laydown in a daze. The Hindus from nearbySadgal village who came to loot from the truckshappened to know him and helped to revivehim. He came to the petrol pump and saw theburning vehicles. Unthinkingly he shouted outto the mob to let his truck be. The mob thendragged him out and threw him into the blaz-ing truck. The driver’s helper, Hanif, and an-other person traveling in the truck at the timeit was attacked, managed to escape. Both ofthem were assisted by the Sadgal villagerswho also dropped them to the relief camp atModasa.

The 3 drivers from Modasa killed atMadhopur Kampa were Kasimbhai, Anwarand Gaina. Of the other 2 drivers killed, onebelonged to Rajasthan and the other to Mewat,Haryana.

The Bayad PS refused to lodge an FIR intothe incident, despite Hanif’s statement nam-ing some members of the mob he was able toidentify with the assistance of the Sadgal vil-lagers.

Town Talod, taluka Talod:DARBARS SHELTERED THE MUSLIMS, AND

RABARIS SAVED THEM

Talod is a taluka town in Sabarkanthadistrict. On Thursday, 28 February, the dayof the Gujarat Bandh a crowd of about 150-200 persons took out a rally in the town ter-minating at the temple. Then on 1 March at12.30 p.m. a mob of 4-5000 people gathered inthe town and started attacking the 80 oddMuslim households which lived scattered indifferent mohallas all over Talod town. TheMuslims took shelter in the houses of theirdarbar neighbours. When they too werethreatened by the mobs the Muslims wentback to some of their still intact houses. On 2March a mob of 500 people came again to de-stroy the remaining houses of the Muslims.The mob looted the houses and the Muslimsmanaged to escape through the fields. They

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were trying to reach Harsol, a neighbouringvillage with a large Muslim population. Afterrunning for about 7 km they reached a placenear Salatpur, where this group of about 50fleeing Muslims (including several old peopleand 20 children) was surrounded and attackedby a mob of about 150 people carrying armsand kerosene. An old woman BashiranShamsuben Lohar was injured on her headand arm by a dharia. The attackers thenstacked dried thorn bushes around the groupof Muslims, shouting that they would light a‘Holi’ around the Muslims. They had justsprinkled kerosene on the dried thorn scruband lit it, and started stripping the women,when at that moment, a group of 20-25 Rabarisfrom nearby Khokhra Kesarpur ran forwardto the defense of the Muslims. It was becauseof their intervention that the Talod Muslimswere able to escape. After going back to Talodand staying in hiding that night and facingone more attack they finally took refuge in thepolice station. The police then dropped themto Harsol where they stayed for 10 days andcame to the Panpur relief camp just outsideHimmatnagar. Bashiran Shamsuben was re-fused treatment at Talod civil hospital, andhad to be taken to a hospital in Modasa fortreatment.

This group of Muslims from Talod wereunable to recognize the attackers. They havenot complained to the police. They have notgone back to Talod since the attack.

District Gandhinagar

Por, taluka Gandhinagar:ACCUSED POLICEMAN IN CHARGE OF

INVESTIGATIONS; FLEEING MUSLIMS DIE OF

SUFFOCATION, 6 DEAD

Por village had about 70 Muslim familiesand about 500 – 600 families of Thakur, Patels,Harijans, Bagri, Raval and Chamar. Thedeputy sarpanch in the village was a Muslimand the Muslims had supported Thakurs inthe last panchayat election. The Sarpanch told

the Muslims of the village that they need notworry, nothing will happen to their village. On1 March, at about 2.15 p.m., just as the after-noon namaz was over, a large mob includingvillagers from Por and at least nine neighbour-ing villages led by Patels from Por attackedthe village. They were armed with kerosene,diesel and gas cylinders. They destroyed andburnt Muslim houses, a mosque as well as thedargah. A bore well which was the only sourceof water for the Muslim houses and fields wascompletely destroyed. The mob also attackedand injured a number of persons, such asShakinaben, Hanifbhai, Fatimabibi, FarooqRahimbhai, and Mariambibi. Village shop-keepers provided kerosene to the attackersand the Patels of the village including womenpelted stones on the fleeing Muslims. The at-tackers caught hold of the maulana and beathim up. The Police Inspector from Adalaj PS,PI Jhala reached the village, shortly after themob arrived, but instead of helping the localMuslims ordered them to leave immediately.

The Collector I.S.Haider and the DDOMr.Brahmbhatt reached the village as the at-tack was continuing. They offered protectionto the Muslims to help them escape from thevillage. All the Muslims of the village tried toescape by getting on to the 3 tempos (407)owned by the Muslim villagers themselves.However, the third tempo did not start. Inpanic people got down from that tempo andclambered on to the other two. Altogetherthere were now 200 people crammed into 2tempos. Three women, who had already sus-tained injuries during the attack and 3 chil-dren died due to suffocation. They were deadby the time the tempos reached the Adalaj PS.

There is only one FIR lodged in the Porincident (no. 44/2002 in Adalaj P.S u/s 147/148/149/436/395/135 Bombay Police Act ). ThisFIR was lodged by the same PI Jhala who didnothing to prevent the attack and the victimscan hardly hope for an unbiased investigationas he is also the Investigating Officer into theincident. The FIR did not contain the namesof the attackers. Later, the witnesses named

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95 Patels in the 4 complaints they gave to thePS and other authorities. In spite of this not asingle Patel was arrested till mid April. Therehave been at least 23 arrests in the case butall of lower caste Thakkars, Vaghris, andRawals involved in the looting after the Mus-lims had fled and not the actual attackers. Thevillagers have also sent complaints and ap-pealed to numerous higher authorities buthave not received any response.

The displaced victims are now staying inMandali relief camp and with their relativesat various other places. The Police inspectorPI Jhala has connived with the attackers bynot taking action at the time of attack, by notincluding their names in the FIR and has nowjoined them to pressurize the victims to with-draw their complaint.

District Mahesana

Kadi town, taluka Kadi:REVIVAL OF TENSIONS AT THE END OF MARCH,

1KNOWN DEAD

Kadi town is one of the taluk headquar-ters of Mahesana district situated about 50kilometres from Ahmadabad. The town has ap-proximately 35% Muslim residents. 28 Feb-ruary witnessed mobs attacking differentMuslim inhabited areas and Muslim commer-cial establishments in the town. On that day56 shops were set afire, four dargahs damagedand one mosque was destroyed. The policeregistered 18 FIRs covering the different inci-dents in the town. In one of the FIRs, promi-nent persons of Kadi including RameshBachhubhai Patel, a municipal councilor, werenamed as accused. All the 13 named accusedwere arrested on 25 March. The next day theDistrict Superintendent of Police was trans-ferred. It was alleged that the transfers waspunitive since he had refused to toe the gov-ernment line. The Chief Minister refuted theseallegations and justified the transfer as a pro-motions. However, the same day the 13 ac-cused were released from custody.

28 March witnessed re-escalation of ten-sion in Kadi when the released persons led avictory procession ‘shobha yatra’ through thetown accompanied by the beating of drums.Next evening a small mob set afire a kioskowned by a Muslim and pelted stones at Mus-lim properties. By 10 p.m. a large mob of 5000people started an attack near Kinara talkies.Another mob numbering 500 attacked theshops owned by Bohra Muslims in the Vorvadarea. The Bohras turned up to repulse the at-tack and stone pelting between the two con-tinued for some time. A police party firedteargas shells at the Bohras to disperse them.Through the night 45 people from among theBohras and 25 Muslims from the Kasba areawere arrested.

Muslim women staged a demonstrationoutside the police station early on the morn-ing of 30 March demanding release of thosearrested. The women continued the protestdespite lathicharge and use of teargas by thepolice. Finally the 70 arrested people werereleased.

Following the violent incidents of the pre-vious night, a BSF party arrived at Kadi inthe morning. Both the S.P. and the Collectorwere present in the town when mob attacksresumed at 10.30 a.m. Till 1 p.m. differentgroups of attackers targeted different Muslimsettlements. The major attack occurred atKalalwas, a locality inhabited by a hundredMuslim Ghanchi families and 300 Patel Hindufamilies. The mob came armed with firearms,explosives, swords and dharias. A police posseof 8 policemen posted at Kalalwas remainedmute spectators.

At 11 a.m. Razak Vazir Kalal, a fruit seller,received four gun shot wounds. He managedto reach medical help and survived. His state-ment to the police identified one Amrit aliasDada as the one who opened fire and othersat the forefront of the mob. All the Muslimresidents of Kalalwas tried to escape to otherlocalities. Mohammad Javed who worked as acleaner was leaving with others when stoneswere pelted at them. He was trying to avoid

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being hit when a bomb was hurled. He triedto stop it with his hand just when it exploded.His hand was cut off at the wrist. The resi-dents kept making desperate phone calls tothe SP and the BSF commandant but to noavail.

Curfew was declared at 1 p.m. but by then36 houses in Kalalwas were destroyed by fireand the rest had suffered looting and damage.Around 3 p.m. one house was set on fire in theSadhwas locality. Two hours later the houseowner, 70 year old Ismail Ghanchi went to seethe damage. He was attacked and killed onthe way. The eye-witness who had accompa-nied Ismail identified the attackers includingthe local President of the Bajrang Dal.

The BSF, which was deployed by the dis-trict administration at 5 p.m., staged a flagmarch and violent incidents ceased. In all, 36houses in Kalalwas were destroyed by fire andthe rest suffered looting and damage. The vic-tims in their complaints to the police identifyover 125 persons from the mob. Only one FIRwas registered for the entire period and cov-ers all the different incidents listed above.

Visnagar town, taluka Visnagar:11 MEMBERS OF A FAMILY BRUTALLY KILLED,BJP MEMBERS IDENTIFIED AS LEADING THE

ATTACKS, 14 KNOWN DEAD

Visnagar Town has about 2-3000 Patelfamilies, 1200 houses Thakur families, 600-700 families of Rabaris; 1000 Harijan fami-lies, and about 100 Muslim families. The Mus-lims here suffered substantial devastation andcasualties. A violent Hindu mob of about 10-12,000 people attacked the various Muslimclusters on the afternoon of 28 February. Theattackers were armed with swords, dharias,sticks, acid, petrol, lighters and country madebombs. About 1200 victims of the town havebeen staying in a relief camp in village Sawalasince the incident. They recognize some of theattackers who were all Patels. According tothem even Patel women participated in theattack by throwing stones on the Muslims fromthe roof top.

In one of the Hindu localities DeepdaDarwaza there were ten shacks/huts belong-ing to really poor Muslims. Some of theseMuslims were labourers, others ran a panshop, a cycle repair shop or pulled a hand cart.The attackers surrounded their houses, putpetrol and burnt them. Eleven people belong-ing to the families of two brothers were hackedand burnt to death, leaving just three survi-vors - Yusufbhai, his 13 year old nephewPathan Arif Khan Yakub Khan, and his elevenyear old niece Noorjahan Yakub Khan. Thosekilled included 5 women, 1 man and 5 chil-dren. One of the children was just 6 monthsold. These two children saw their family mem-bers being hacked and burnt with their owneyes. With a deep sense of hurt and pain Yusufbhai tells every one that even till the lastminute he believed that the attackers were allneighbours and would not kill his family.

The attackers took the bodies, cut andpacked them in sacks and dumped the sacksin a pond on Kada Road. The bodies were laterrecovered by the police. While the attackstarted at around 2.30 p.m., and the policewere called repeatedly, they finally came onlyat 5 p.m.. The trapped Muslim residents wererescued only after that. The survivors havenamed 60 people in their complaint to police.Police have arrested 18 persons. However,according to Yusufbhai they were arrested inconnection with earlier smaller offences. DSPGehlot (now transferred) has sent body re-mains of those killed for examination to theCentral Forensic Science Laboratory.

In another area in the town calledKaziwada one Ashrafbhai was attacked by themob and struck with a sword. His sisterZainabbibi and his neighbours Hanifbhai andYunusbhai Mansuri took him in a hand cartto the Civil Hospital, Visnagar. The attackerscaught them in the Civil Hospital. Yunusbhaiescaped and has not been seen since.Zainabibi, Hanif and Ashrafbhai were takento the third floor of the hospital and throwndown from there. While Ashraf and Hanif died,Zainabibi did not die the first time round so

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she was dragged up the stairs and thrownagain. Then acid was thrown on the bodies,and they were also slashed with swords. Onewoman Noor Jehan who is an eyewitness, wasin the hospital when this happened. Accord-ing to her all the attackers were outsiders andthere were 50-60 attackers who entered thehospital and killed the three.

In another locality, Khada Darwaza, about15- 20 Muslim men and children were injuredin an attack. As the mob approached this lo-cality, about 100 women hid in a house, whilethe men tried to resist the attack by throwingback stones. The confrontation continued forabout 2-3 hours.

According to the survivors the local MLAPrahladbhai Mohan Lal Patel Ghosa was themain instigator. He organized meetings in thetown and had been heard announcing a re-ward of Rs. 5 lakhs for killing one Muslim andguaranteeing that there would be no case orimprisonment.

Muslims from Visnagar who have fled toSawala are too scared to go back. 84 autorickshaws stand forlonly as it is dangerous forthe drivers to ply them. School students whoattempted to go to school continue to be threat-ened by groups of 10–15 people. Numerousisolated incidents of attacks on Muslims con-tinue to take place.

Sardarpura, taluka Vijapur:ELIMINATION BY ELECTROCUTION;

33 KNOWN DEAD

33 Muslims in village Sardarpura werekilled on 1 March, 29 of them in a single at-tack. Several survivors of the village are nowresiding with their relatives in village Sawala.

Muslims constituted about 10% of the to-tal population of the village, which includedabout 25 families of Pathans, 20 of Sheikhs(Ghanchis) and abut 20 families of MansuriMuslims.

On 28 February, at about 9 p.m. severalkiosks owned by Muslims, Harijans andRawals were burnt by a mob comprised of

Sardarpura Hindus. Though the police werecalled the attack continued despite their pres-ence, and even after they left.

Fearing further attack the following daythe Muslims again called the police. Two jeepswith policemen arrived led by two Sub Inspec-tors. The idea of forming a peace committeewas also mooted and names of people fromvarious communities were short-listed. Ameeting was fixed for 4 p.m. Apart from thesarpanch and an ex-sarpanch (both Patels),representatives from Harijans, Rawals,Prajapati and Muslims reached the venue butthe Patels did not come. The sarpanch left thevenue shortly making the excuse that hewould try to get the Patels. He did not re-turn.

Strangely, the streetlights of the village,which were not working for about a monthprior to the incident, were suddenly repairedby the Hindu electrician that evening. A halo-gen light was installed near the colony of theSheikhs and a long wire and a metal conduc-tor were connected to it. The sarpanch tookaway the key to the bore well from a Muslimbore operator. By 9.30 p.m. a Hindu mob from8-10 villages started collecting in Sardarpura.All the three localities of the Muslims (ofPathans, Sheikhs and Memons) were simul-taneously attacked. While shops were beingburnt in the localities of the Memons and theSheikhs, houses of the Pathans were attackedby stone throwing.

The two sub-inspectors were still in the vil-lage when the mob attack started. By makingexcuses about going to the other end of thevillage to stop the attack on the Memon shopsthey probably made their getaway. They gavewrong messages to the DSP that every thingwas all right in the village.

In the Sheikh locality a two-year-old girlchild was thrown and killed by the mob. Someof the Muslims ran to Rawals’ houses for shel-ter and together with Rawals then ran awaythrough the fields. One person saved himselfby hiding in a grave.

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31 people, mostly women and children hadtaken shelter in a house in the Sheikh local-ity. The mob surrounded the house, lockedthem into a room, and threw acid at themthrough openings in the room. The metal con-ductor, an iron rod attached by a wire to thenewly installed halogen light was shoved in-side the room packed with Muslims and elec-tric current passed through it. The device wasmoved around in the room and used to elec-trocute 29 persons to death. Two children whofell beneath the pile of bodies of the dead sur-vived the attack.

Finally after receiving the desperate pleasof the trapped Muslims on phone, the DSPAshok Gehlot reached the village with twovehicles at about 2-30 a.m. The Sardarpurasurvivors were rescued and taken to Sawalavillage. The police found that the roads out ofSardarpura were blocked at frequent intervalstill Ladol, 9 km away, to prevent the Muslimsfrom escaping.

An FIR was lodged and 28 persons namedby survivors. One of the chief accused BajrangDal activist Chandra Kant has not been ar-rested yet.

District Ahmadabad

Kuha, taluka Daskroi:‘LET BYGONES BE BYGONES’

The first instance of communal attack onthe 50-odd families of Muslims in the villageoccurred in 1992. There was stone pelting onthem and they were forced to leave the vil-lage. The 300 families of Patels were in theforefront of the attack. Most of the Muslimshad worked as labourers and some 4-5 fami-lies own a small patch of land. But over timesome of them have started small kiosks andothers earn a living as drivers.

On 28 February, around 1 p.m. a mob ledby the husband of the sarpanch, a Patel, at-tacked the Muslim houses. The other majorcaste in the village is Thakor, which did not

participate in the attack. As the attack started,most Muslims fled into the fields while someothers took refuge in the house of one of thepanchayat members, Laxmiben Dabhi. AhmedHussain Sayyed was unable to flee in time andtherefore hid in his house. He was thus wit-ness to all that happened. 19 houses wereburnt and belongings looted from the rest.

For 9 days Muslims stayed in the fields andthrough these days Laxmiben organised foodfor them. Once it was safe to move from there,people organised two vehicles and with onepolice vehicle escorting, the people reached therelief camp at Bapunagar in Ahmadabad city.

A complaint was given to the police but areceived copy was not provided. No copy of thepanchnama has been provided. AhmedHussain and his two brothers used the oppor-tunity of the NHRC team visit to get their com-plaint filed.

On 13 April, Laxmiben came to theBapunagar relief camp as an emissary of theHindus of the village to make a deal with theMuslim families. They should withdraw thecomplaint and only then are welcome to comeback to reside in the village. However the threebrothers who had officially complained are notpermitted into the village. Ahmed Hussainwishes to bring the guilty to justice but feelsthat he will withdraw the complaint if theother displaced people feel he should.

Abbasana, taluka Detroj:SOLE MUSLIM FAMILY KILLED IN APRIL BY

HINDUS OF THE VILLAGE, 5 KNOWN DEAD

Abbasana has about 300 households ofwhich only 3 are of Muslims. All 3 householdsare part of one extended family of three broth-ers. This Ghanchi Muslim family owns someland and have lived in the village for over 300years. Of the Hindus, a few are Brahmans,several Patels and Darbars, and some Vaghrisand Harijans. The Muslim houses are right inthe middle of the village, surrounded on oneside by the Brahman, Patel and Darbar faliyas,and on the other by the Harijans and Vaghris.

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On the run

Noor Mohammad Rasool Bhai Vora had beenliving in Naroda Patiya for the last 12 years. Heoperated a handcart selling goods in the colo-nies. 1992 was the first time that disturbanceshappened at Naroda Patiya. At that time he hidin Naroda itself. But nothing serious happened.

This time trouble started on 1 March whenthe Congress office was burnt. Noor Mohammadlived as a tenant in a house owned by a personbelonging to the Darbar caste. The landlord toldhim that mobs might attack and therefore heshould take refuge in a back room of the land-lord’s house. At 2 a.m. that night a group of peo-ple came demanding that the tenant be handedover to them. The landlord told the mobs that hedid not know the whereabouts of the tenant. Themob left. The landlord feared that he may beunable to protect his tenant in the future andtherefore asked Noor Mohammad and his familyto leave.

At 9 a.m. on 2 March the family of five dressedas Hindus. The wife wore a saree and applied abindi on the forehead. They then paid Rs. 100 toa rickshaw puller to take them a distance of 5kilometres. From there they walked 15 km toKathalwara road and continued walking throughthe fields and small roads towards a village inNadiad taluka, Kheda district. For 5 days theystayed in Umreth with his brother. On 6 April,similar attacks on Muslims started in Umreth. Thenext day both the families left. They walked toAnand. The relief camp there was very crowded.Noor Mohammad had little children and food wasscarce and they were able to get their night mealas late as 2 a.m. Therefore the family moved toMehlaj and are staying there since.

His brother’s house has been looted and eventhe handcart that was his means of livelihood isgone.

Nothing happened till April. A little aftermidnight on 2 April, two groups of 10 to 15Hindus from the village attacked the Muslimhouses and hacked 5 of them to death and se-riously injured 7. Their houses were burnt anddestroyed. The other Muslims ran to the tem-ple, and a few took shelter in the barber’shouse. They later ran to the house of anothervillager from where they were taken early inthe morning to Civil Hospital, Ahmadabad bythe police.

A total of 23 accused have been named inthe FIR. They were arrested and in judicialcustody when we met the victims in mid April.

Similar attacks were carried out in othervillages like Chandikheda, Nani Kadi, Vidajand Kansar with just 2 or 3 Muslim house-holds. According to survivors it is the conse-quence of VHP mobilisation inciting Hindusto finish off even the few Muslims in their vil-lages.

District Kheda

Kanij, taluka Mehemdabad:‘COME BACK TO THE VILLAGE, BUT ON ONE

CONDITION ...’; 3 KNOWN DEAD

Kheda is often cited as an example of thesituation returning to normal: of Hindus mak-ing the effort to bring Muslims back to the vil-lages. This myth was reflected in the press andthrough official pronouncements, during thevisit of the team and later.

Kanij is a 500-year-old village, with a popu-lation of about 10,000 including 125 Muslimfamilies. The Muslims mainly belong to theMalik and Pathan castes. Amongst the Hin-dus the main castes are Patels, Rabari,Darbar, Harijans and Thakur.

On 1 March at around 7.00 p.m., when theMuslims were getting ready for dinner, theywere attacked by a 2000-3000 strong mob. Allthe Muslims fled to the fields of Nainpur vil-lage situated 3-4 km away. They hid in the

The Muslims have lived together with otherswithout any communal tensions all theseyears. When a daughter of the family got mar-ried recently, they had fed the entire village.A woman member of the Muslim family waselected as a member of the village panchayat.

26

fields till the morning of 3 March and got foodfrom neighbouring villages and passers-by. Onreturning on 3 March, they found 106 housescompletely burnt and all the goods stolen. Therest 19 houses built adjacent to Hindu houseswere looted but were spared the burning.These included the kuchha jhuggis of the poor,and one three-storeyed house. The losses in-cluded household goods, agricultural imple-ments, and cattle.

An hour after returning, a mob collectedand attacked again. 22 year old Zakir MianRasul Mian Khokar fell into the hands of themob and was killed while others ran to savetheir lives. They ran once again towardsNainpur and decided to proceed from there toMehlaj (district Kheda). After a 6-7 kilometrewalk they were attacked once again by a mobnear Shahdara village. Sakir Mian RasoolMian Sheikh (18) and Shafi Mian Mirsab MianSheikh (20) were surrounded by the mob andkilled and their bodies burnt. The rest foundshelter in relief camps at Mehemdabad andMehlaj.

On 19 March Vikram Singh Darbar, a richlandowner of Kanij, sent tractors to bring theMuslims back to the village. Most familiescame back and were provided food by VikramSingh for over two weeks.

Who were the attackers? The victims pub-licly deny recognising any of them, maintain-ing they came from other villages. The fact isthat the mob was mainly organised from Kanijitself. The reason for the Muslim silence is thatmost Muslims are landowners and their live-lihood is tied to the village. They also havelittle faith that the state will apprehend andpunish those responsible for the killings anddestruction. Therefore the FIRs filed do notinclude names of the attackers. No one hasbeen arrested.

The same Darbar community that is nowbeing advertised as the messiah had led theattack. The deal with the attackers includesnon-identification of the accused as a specificcondition. Speaking to the victims told us that

the new equilibrium is far from stable. Howcan they ever feel safe or think of living withthe people who have destroyed them com-pletely?

We also gathered that the larger commu-nally surcharged atmosphere was actuallyused to settle village level scores. It seemsthat the Darbars (Rajputs) had dominated thevillage panchayat for 4-5 decades and in therecent panchayat elections, a Patel became thesarpanch due to support from the Muslims,and a Muslim became the deputy sarpanch.The attack was aimed at teaching the Mus-lims a lesson.

27

As narrative after narrative makes evident,there is a chilling monotony in each accountof killing, burning, arson, raping, maiming,looting. A drab sameness in the cries of ‘Maaro,kaapo, baalo!’ (Kill! Hack! Burn!) shouted byHindu mobs, in the accounts of police inaction,in the peculiar mixture of bewilderment, an-ger, fear and hopelessness in the eyes of vic-tims in relief camps across the districts wevisited. Accounts of incidents occurring inplaces far apart bear a frightening resem-blance to each other in the brutality of themassacres of Muslim men, women and chil-dren and the participation of their own Hinduneighbours in these attacks. Yet in each dis-trict the pattern and object of attacks and theirtiming was different in crucial ways, owing tothe nature of local political and socio-economicfactors.

Organisation and MobilisationOne feature which has been strikingly vis-

ible in the entire region has been the organi-sational activity of the Bajrang Dal/VHP/RSSespecially among groups like the adivasis.Muslim refugees from Pandarwada(Panchmahals) Randhikpur (Dahod), Sanjeli(Dahod), Por (Gandhinagar) and several oth-ers reported the steady build up of such activ-ity through meetings, leaflets etc. over the lastdecade and more intensively over the last cou-ple of years. Anti-Muslim propaganda hasbeen the central plank of this build up. ‘KodarDoctor’, one of the chief accused ofPandarwada would tell the Muslim villagersthat Pandarwada was the land of the fivepandavas, and Muslims were not wanted, andthey should go to Pakistan.

A further increase in the tempo of commu-nal mobilisation is reported in a number of vil-lages from around 6 months ago, when theplanning for the shilapujan to build theRamjanmabhoomi temple began. Trishul-

diksha programmes, where trishuls were dis-tributed to large gatherings were organisedin a number of areas beginning from aroundthis period. Prantij (Sabarkantha), Sanjeli,Pandarwada and in fact villages acrossKhanpur taluka (Panchmahals) reported suchmeetings. These meetings were only held invillages where there were Muslims, and pub-licly issuing threats against the communityappeared to be one of the objectives. InPandarwada, people from 50-60 neighbouringvillages are said to have come to the meetingat Ayodhya Chowk held only about a fortnightbefore the fatal attack on Muslims. FaizMohammad Ahmadbhai recalled,

Nearly 300 to 400 people from nearby vil-lages, men and women, had collected at themeeting. There were VHP leaders, sadhus andothers. The entire meeting was broadcast onthe loudspeakers, provided by Anil Modi. Oneleader said, ‘there were 2-3 households of Mus-lims earlier. Now they have 100-125 houses.The Muslim population is increasing. We mustdo something now. We have no arms. In Mus-lim houses arms are ready for use. We mustprepare to fight them. The Principal of ShriK.M. Doshi High school, Kantibhai AmbalalPandya, who chaired the meeting said, ‘Wemust give serious thought to what the speak-ers have said today; and we must prepare our-selves so that we can confront them.’ The Mus-lims don’t believe in family planning so theirpopulation increases. Let our population alsoincrease.....’.

Finally in almost all the villages affected,meetings were held on the evening of 27 Feb-ruary or on 28 February to plan the attacks.With prior preparation, availability of weap-ons, gas cylinders and incendiary materials,these meetings were aimed at organising andoperationalising the exact details of the at-tacks and targets in each village. Some of theplaces where such meetings were held are:

III. What The Incidents Tell UsEmerging Patterns

28

village Leach (Mahesana), village Motera(Gandhi Nagar), village Prantij (Saberkantha)and village Sanjeli (Dahod) among others.These meetings were described in some placesas ‘Shanti Samiti’ meetings, but curiously par-ticipants in these so called ‘peace meetings’led the attacks the following day (as in Sanjeli).In Piplod (Dahod) the attack was launched on28 February at 4 p.m. after a meeting of theattackers and main leaders in the adivasiashram shala in the ‘phaatak-paar’ area of thetown from 12 noon onwards. They began theirattack immediately after leaving the meeting,destroying the handful of Muslim houses inthe area.

It was partly this organisational base builtupon the targeted deployment of hate thatenabled the assembly of mobs as large as 7-10,000 or even more. Dalsukh Maharaj ofSanjeli, for example, tapped into a combina-tion of existing organisation and the immedi-ate local issue of an adivasi wedding partybeing fired upon to mobilise a mammoth crowdof 30-35,000 people, mostly adivasi to slaugh-ter the Sanjeli Muslims, burn and loot theirhouses. “Adivasi women abducted by Muslimmen”, “Muslims as traders and exploiters”,certain catch-phrases repeated in identicalways across the region indicate some of thestrategies of Hindutva mobilisation amongBhils and other tribals. Similarly, sustainedpropaganda of rumours and myths about“alarming increase in Muslim population”,“Hindu women being violated by Muslims”,“more Hindus than Muslims killed in all ear-lier riots”, “Muslims collecting weapons to at-tack Hindus” were used throughout Gujaratto mobilize mobs to attack Muslims.

Money, in several instances, was an addedfactor in mobilising mobs. In many villages inPanchmahals and Dahod monetary incentivesand liquor were offered to adivasis to kill Mus-lims.

Informants from Mora said that twoSindhis from Godhra had come to Mora on the28 night and given money and liquor toadivasis to kill Muslims. The mob collected

only after they came. They also held meetingsin Methral and Suliath to plan attacks.

While Godhra provided the occasion, it wasprior mobilisation and organisation that madepossible the systematic and calculated prepa-rations that preceded many of the massacres- such as the repair of the electric line inSardarpura (Mahesana) used to electrocute 29persons to death, the knowledge of exactlyhow to torch the fire proof showroom ofHarsoliya Motors (Sabarkantha), or what kindof blasting devices and detonators were re-quired to destroy Muslim owned factories andestablishments in the GIDC area in Modasa(Sabarkantha) while the area was under cur-few (from 1 to 3 March).

To reiterate, all these point to an organ-ised massacre and economic destruction ofMuslims resulting from a history of focussedanti-Muslim mobilisation among different so-cial groups in which the party in power andthe state machinery also participated. In theface of such widespread evidence of prior or-ganisation the spontaneous ‘pratikriya’ or ‘re-action’ explanation for the post Godhra vio-lence favoured by officials and political lead-ers is hopelessly inadequate.

Method of attacksDistinct patterns have emerged in the

methods of attack across the area. For in-stance, weapons used in the attack such asswords were of the same brand and distrib-uted in advance across large tracts. The large-scale use of gas cylinders to blast houses andcommercial establishments especially in ur-ban areas like Ode (Kheda) or Himmatnagar,a district town, is a common pattern. Perhapsthe single most common method used to de-stroy property and lives has been burning.Whether as a gruesome echo of the Godhratrain incident or the easiest method of destroy-ing evidence, or as the most comprehensiveway of destroying property, both rural andurban areas saw large scale arson, and nu-merous incidents of torching people alive, rap-ing and burning, hacking and burning large

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Interdependence vs. Competition

Political economy explanations for the violence have limited use value as a master explanation inthis context. Economic factors work both ways with interdependence tending towards the need to limitattacks and competition in certain sectors fuelling the communal mobilization. For instance, PalanpuriMuslims monopolise a chain of vegetarian restaurants. But the main suppliers of basic items such asatta, milk, vegetables, spices, and so on are Hindus. Most of the workers are also Hindus. In Ahmadabad,Italian Bakery, owned by a Muslim, depends on a large number of Hindu agents to sell its products. Manyhawkers of the products (e.g. bread, cakes, biscuits) are also Hindu.

In spite of the many instances of economic inter-dependence between the two communities, how-ever, each may pursue an independent trajectory to outdo the other in the world of competition. In thisconnection caste ties could function as important factors in the development of economic enterprise.This is evident in the critical area of finance capital. The functioning of two cooperative banks in Modasa(Sabarkantha) may be cited as an example. The elected members of the management of one of them,Nagarik Sahakari Bank (NSB), are all Hindus, while those of the other, Sarvodaya Sahakari Bank (SSB),are all Muslim. The rules provide for only a token representation of the other community — the electedmembers of the management may nominate one person of the other community.

One of the reasons advanced for setting up NSB was that its counterpart was biased against Hinduclients. While it is difficult to substantiate such statements, the dominant perception is that support canbe obtained only from an institution constituted by the members of one’s own community. The develop-ment of the trucking business in Modasa is a case in point. The business is operated by a cooperativecalled Modasa Road Transport Cooperative Society. It has about 3,800 members and covers four talukas,comprising half the district. Muslims dominate the membership, Hindus constituting only about 20 percent of the members. The latter include Patels and Banias, while the former include Ghanchis, Bohras,and Sepahis. Among the Muslims, the Ghanchis played a leading role in the development of the truckingbusiness. As a former chairman of the cooperative told us, the transportation of goods was one of thetraditional occupations of the caste, and hence it was ‘in their blood’ (the other traditional occupation wasoil pressing). The community was extremely successful in adapting their skills to handling modern formsof road transport.

Till the 1960s Ghanchi truckers borrowed from private sources dominated by Patels, paying hugeamounts as interest (at 3% per month). Following the nationalisation of banks in 1965 the trucking busi-ness in the district received a boost, because loans for the purchase of trucks could be obtained on aninterest of 12% per annum. However, it was the establishment of SSB around the same time that provedto be a landmark in the development of the business. Unlike nationalised banks, which provided up to10% support for purchasing a truck, the cooperative bank advanced up to 90% of the cost. Thus, even aperson having about Rs. 10,000/= could become a truck owner in the late 1960s, as the price of a truckat that time was only approximately Rs. 60,000/-. The period witnessed a fantastic expansion in thetrucking business in the Modasa region, the Ghanchis being among the main beneficiaries.

One of our informants believed that the prosperity of the Muslims of the area aroused the envy ofthe Patels and Banias, and ironically communalised the atmosphere in the town. When riots last oc-curred in 2000, about 60 business establishments belonging to Muslims had been damaged. The factthat the victims found succour only from their own community added to the polarisation between Hindusand Muslims. For instance, following these riots, the governing body of SSB decided to advance loans tothose who had suffered damages, offering a rebate of 50% on the normal rate of interest.

One consistent pattern seems to be the specific targetting of the economic basis of the Muslims, beit shops, implements, trucks, autorickshaws and other means of livelihood. 85 auto rickshaws driven byMuslims lie idle in Sawala, Mahesana, as the situation in neighbouring Visnagar where they used to plyis too tense and unsafe for them to go. 65 trucks owned by Modasa based Muslims alone were burnt (asin the case of the Bayad incident cited) on the Godhra Modasa highway during this communal carnage.

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groups of terrified Muslims on the run. Thedestruction of evidence by burning of deadbodies aided by cylinders and petrol etc.whether at Ode or Limbadiya Chowkri or inseveral other places across the state has leftthe survivors without access to the dead bod-ies of their loved ones. The lack of bodies hasalso made it easier for the state to minimisethe death toll, and thus avoid paying compen-sation.

The horror of such deaths is still reflectedin the eyes of survivors- men, women and evensmall children, in relief camps, left with just afew brittle charred bones. Odd things remem-bered by survivors bring out the pathetic na-ture of these deaths - in Modasa where re-mains of the truck drivers killed at MadhopurKampa were handed over to the TransportersCooperative, all that remained of each manfit into small cardboard cartons.

Another pattern that has emerged through-out the region is that the Muslims in a numberof places trusted their attackers. In Por Hinduattackers, mostly Patels, had eaten a meal inthe house of their Muslim victims on the occa-sion of Id on 23 February. The victims of Por,who are not being allowed to go back to theirvillage unless they withdraw the names of theaccused, could hardly believe that their fel-low villagers had turned attackers. InAbbasana the 3 families of Muslims trustedthe Hindus with whom their families had livedfor generations. Their sense of betrayal andgrief when the same neighbours attacked andkilled 5 men of the village on 2 April was im-mense. In Pandarwada too attackers likeJaswant Patel offered protection to the Mus-lims and asked them to take shelter in hisfields. He then directed and led the mobagainst them killing 8 people. Another leaderMahendra Vakil offered them protection in ahouse and told them to put inside the firewoodlying outside the house to ‘prevent the attack-ers from setting the house on fire.’ He thenlocked the doors and led the mob against theMuslims in the house. It is such total and de-liberate betrayal of trust after pretending to

save them that will leave the deepest and mostpermanent scars.

In a number of places attacks on Muslimstook place inside public buildings and institu-tions like government hospitals as in Kalol andVisnagar on 28 February where mobs enteredthe premises to kill and injure 1 and 3 per-sons respectively. Another pattern we cameacross in some rural areas in Panchmahalswas of the same mob roaming about the coun-tryside with impunity, telling victims that theywould come back later, going from place toplace over days, led by prominent people fromthe rural areas- such as in the case of the mobattacks on Mora Suliyath and Anjanwa inPanchmahals.

MediaThe role of one of the most widely circu-

lated daily newspapers Sandesh has beenmentioned earlier in this report. Particularlyin Panchmahals, within a 50-km radius ofGodhra and around Kalol and Delol, theSandesh’s entirely concocted stories of find-ing bodies of Hindu women fuelled the attacksleading to over 200 killings and large numberof rapes and gangrapes of Muslims in this dis-trict alone. According to Kalol camp inmatesthe correspondent who filed the story also ledmobs in Kalol on 28 February. The story wasused by attackers in the other districts as well.Later in Prantij, we met a correspondent ofthe same paper in the house of his close friendand associate who was also the VHP districtchief. The correspondent spoke passionatelyabout the threat to the majority, and how theirvoice was never heard- at a time when this‘voiceless’, ‘non-violent’ majority had alreadyslaughtered over 2000 members of the minor-ity community.

The subsequent articles and reportage ofat least the leading Gujarati dailies Sandeshand Gujarat Samachar continued to show thisbias.

In its report to the NHRC the Gujarat stategovernment noted that “ while the vernacularpress has been very balanced in their report-

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ing the English language press has gone over-board in criticising the government ... (empha-sis ours)”. The orientation of the governmentis clear from the fact that the state govern-ment which responded and refuted most of thecritical articles that appeared in the Englishmedia, refused to even recognise, criticise orrespond to the Sandesh report. Such report-ing amounts to a criminal offence. Praisingsuch reporting as ‘balanced’ makes the gov-ernment a co-conspirator.

Rape and Sexual AssaultWhile rumours about Hindu women being

abducted from the train incited many attacksagainst Muslims real incidents of rape andsevere sexual assault - in Panchmahals andDahod as well as in cities like Ahmadabad andBaroda - remain largely undocumented. Sul-tana’s rape near Kalol is not recorded in theFIR and Shabana and Rukaiya’s rapes in Eralbefore they were killed do not find place inthe FIR of the incident. Those accused inBilkees’s rape case have not yet been appre-hended. In fact Bilkees and others from hervillage (Randhikpur) are being pressurised towithdraw her accusation and names as a pre-condition for going back. Several incidents ofraping followed by burning of victims, as alsobreast cutting (as in Shabana’s case, Eral)have been reported. However it is possible thatowing to community pressures, several suchoffences have gone unreported. Yet in all theabove cases, the victims or their relatives havedisregarded social stigma and are in factdauntlessly trying till date, almost 90 daysafter the incidents, to get their complaints reg-istered.

Destruction of MosquesVery often mosques and dargahs were at-

tacked first. In Vasad (Anand district) amosque and a dargah were flattened with abulldozer. In Sanjeli (Dahod) the mosque wasbroken, set on fire, and abusive anti Muslimslogans were written all over the walls. Saf-fron flags and Hanuman images in mosques

and dargahs are routine sights in urban andrural areas. In Boru (Panchmahals), a dargahwhich Hindus from distant places also visitedhas been desecrated. Symbolic desecration ofmosques and qurans followed by their actualdestruction and burning of Muslim houses invillage after village shows the systematic at-tempt to stamp out the cultural identity ofMuslims. Threats issued to many Muslims try-ing to go back to their villages hinge upon theirstopping the use of cultural symbols, even capsand beards for men and salwar kameez forwomen.

Bohra Losses inPanchmahals and Dahod

The Dawoodi Bohra Jamat Anjuman-e-Mohammedi Masjid estimates that Bohras of 54villages in Panchmahals and Dahod districtshave been affected. This amounts to 850 fami-lies, or 3500-4000 people. 7 Bohras have died,150 have been injured and property loss is esti-mated at Rs. 70-75 crores.The Bohras dominate trade in and around Dahod,and almost all of them also have land. The Bohrasare concentrated in hardware, wholesale grainand pulses trade and rice mills. Three large in-dustries – Raj Foods, which makes cornflakes,2 pulse mills and 1 plastic drum manufacturingunit have been completely destroyed. Accord-ing to the Syedna, this is the first time there hasbeen such a major attack, though there havebeen minor incidents before. Before the 1990sRamjanmabhoomi movement, the attacks wereeconomic in nature – with adivasis looting Bohrashops. In 1990, during Advani’s Rath yatra, 6Bohra shops were burnt in Mullahji bazaar andHanuman Bazaar in Dahod. Among villages KuaJalgam, Mora, Rampur Kishenpur and Morwa-Hadap were badly affected, with 36 houses andshops looted. In 1992, again there was looting inMullahji bazaar.The Bohras differentiate themselves fromGhanchis by insisting that they are peace lovingand don’t want to file FIRs. According to theBohras, they have good relations with theadivasis who are dependent on them for credit.

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The role of local factorsWhile certain common patterns do emerge

from the incidents, local factors - politics, his-tory, caste configurations - add a specific edgeand dimension to attacks in particular villages.For instance, in several villages tensions be-tween social groups stemming from the re-cently held panchayat elections contributed tothe attacks on Muslims. In Kanij (Kheda) theMuslims had supported the Patel candidatesin the panchayat elections, so the Darbars(Rajputs) took this opportunity to attack theMuslims, killing 3, and burning their housesand property. People in Boru (Panchmahals)and other places argued that even before theRamsevaks started going to Ayodhya, the at-mosphere in their villages had been vitiatedby a Congress victory in the panchayat elec-tions in December 2001. The BJP perceivedMuslims as responsible and determined totake revenge. Derol Railway Station village(Panchmahals) also saw similar tensions.Here, the wife of Vinot Barot (he is one of theaccused) supported by the BJP, was defeatedin the panchayat elections by SaraswatiRatilal Rana (supported by Congress) who wonwith Muslim support. Vinod Barot also has abrick kiln in competetion with Isak Bhai ofthe same village. Isak Bhai attributed the vio-lence in Derol Railway Station village to amixture of ‘competition and election’. InKidiyad (Sabarkantha) too the Muslimsarpanch Saleembhai elected recently (on 23December 2001) stated that the arson and loot-ing of Muslim property in the village on 2/3/2002 was spearheaded by his opponent wholost the elections. The attack forced the Mus-lims to flee in two tempos.

In Anjanwa village we were told about anold land dispute between one Muslim familyand one adivasi family which possibly addedto the brutality of the attack in this village. InSanjeli village mobilisation by DalsukhMaharaj on the basis of the Godhra incident,the rumoured ‘attack on Hindu women’ thereand the ‘attack on adivasis’ in the village on

28 February led to the assembly of a giant moband widespread arson and killing.

It must be reiterated though that local dy-namics only contributed a specific dimensionto the attacks on particular villages- they op-erated within the larger context of political mo-bilisation of adivasis, Thakurs, Patels or oth-ers by Hindu communal organisations withtheir sinister agenda on minorities. The wellorganised attacks were primarily the resultof such communal mobilisation, and theymerely provided an opportunity to settle arange of other scores against local Muslims.

Adivasi InvolvementThere is a widely held view that violence

by adivasis in Panchmahals, Dahod,Sabarkantha, Chota Udepur, was caused pri-marily by adivasi resentment against Muslimexploiters. Curiously, however, apart fromsome big traders and transporters, the major-ity of the victims in these districts as we dis-covered in the course of our factfinding arepoor peasants, agricultural labourers, smallkirana shopowners, tailors, autorickshaw driv-ers, etc. It is the Bohras who constitute thebigger shopowners and money lenders. Whilethey were also attacked- the total Bohra lossin Dahod district alone is estimated at Rs.37,000 crores- many of them seem to have beenable to go back to the villages and restart busi-nesses (The Indian Express, 4/5/2002), unlikethe large numbers of Ghanchis, Pathans, andMemons affected who are still forced to live inrelief camps. Whether or not a certain sectionof the Muslims were ‘exploiters’ of the adivasis,it is very clear that this interpretation has beencynically used by the leaders of the RSS/VHP/Bajrang Dal, to mobilise adivasi supportagainst all Muslims in the area. This propa-ganda is helped along by Hindu bania keen todestroy competition by Muslim moneylenders.

Gender is another ploy used by the SanghParivar to mobilise the adivasis. In the areaswe visited, orchestrated obsessive paranoiathat “Adivasi women are being abducted byMuslim men” is widely projected by the likes

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of Dalsukh in Sanjeli and non tribal VHP lead-ers elsewhere. Villagers in remote Anjanwa(Panchmahals) articulated the same fears. Onbeing asked to provide instances of such ab-duction, they could only recall a 20 year oldcase of an adivasi woman marrying a Muslimman. In the Sanjeli-Randhikpur region ofDahod district, however the issue of a Muslimyouth marrying an adivasi woman was usedto stir up communal frenzy in 1998 by Hinducommunal leaders. Sanjeli was tense for days,and there was some arson and looting of Mus-lim shops. Hindu communal leaders of themobilisation campaigns in the adivasi areashave been successful in part in presentingattacks on Muslims to the tribal populace as anecessity to ‘save adivasi women’ and ‘recovertribal honour’.

However, the reach and success of suchpropaganda is finally limited. In many cases(e.g. Mora, Anjanwa) adivasis were paidmoney and liquor by VHP/BJP/Bajrang dalleaders to attack Muslims. We have also beentold of cases of adivasis like other individualHindus giving Muslims shelter. For instance,an adivasi family gave clothes to Shamim af-ter she delivered her baby while fleeing fromRandhikpur. The adivasi family also sheltereda group of women for two days; anotheradivasi showed a different group of womenfrom Randhikpur the way out of the forest andthe adivasi sarpanch of Jhamri sheltered themfor two days. In Katwara village, Dahod dis-trict, the Muslims sheltered with Chamarfamilies and the adivasi sarpanch is askingthem to come back.

Role of Elected Representatives

Even a cursory reading of the accounts ex-poses the role of the state, particularly thepolice and the elected representatives of theruling party in dealing with the attacks onMuslims since 28 February.

The involvement of local councilors in thecommunal carnage is widely known. In Kadi,Mahesana as well as in Visnagar the localmunicipal councilors were directly involved in

inciting the mobs. According to eyewitnesses,in Kadi it was the Municipal Council memberSachin Bachubhai Patel, while in Visnagar itwas MLA Prahladbhai Mohanbhai Gosa Patel(BJP) and Nayabhai Tribhuvandas Patel,deputy chief of the Municipal Corporation. InKadi this was the reason why whenever theMuslims would call for the fire tender it wouldnot arrive leading to very widespread arsonand burning. In Kalol (Panchmahals) the in-volvement of the BJP MLA belonging to thatarea, Prabhasingh Chouhan and his son wasseen by many eyewitnesses.

Elected sarpanches and their deputies haveincited and led mobs against Muslims or col-luded silently by not responding to their des-perate pleas. Obvious examples are, for in-stance, sarpanches in Kuha (Ahmadabad), orSardarpura (Mahesana). In most instances, noaction has been taken against any of theseelected representatives. This is in stark con-trast to investigation and prosecution in thecase of the Godhra carnage, where action hasbeen promptly taken against the municipalcouncillors indicted.

What do these patterns then portend?What are their deeper implications? The fol-lowing chapters discuss these questions vis avis the role of the state and its agencies dur-ing the attacks and their immediate aftermath– in investigating and prosecuting the guiltyand providing relief and rehabilitation to thevictims.

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How The Carnage ContinuedWithout Hindrance

During the course of the carnage the roleof the police, or rather, its absence has beenmost noticeable. It was so conspicuous becausethe police was the one actor during the car-nage which departed significantly and consist-ently from its assigned role.

In most places the police was seen hand inglove with the mobs. It was overtly so in Kaloltown where the ASI Uday Singh Parmar wasseen actively participating in the destructionand burning of Muslim shops, houses and ve-hicles on 28 February. More common was thepolice seen as silent spectators while the mobswent on the rampage. In Randhikpur, a po-lice party arrived when the mob was settinghouses on fire and stayed there till the mobhad completed the destruction. InPandarwada, four policemen were presentwhen the mob was chasing and killing Mus-lims. In Kadi town, during the second phaseof rioting at the end of March, a BSF partyand large numbers of police personnel includ-ing the SP were available when the mobs at-tacked. While the police took no action to com-bat rioters, the Collector gave the mobs twoand a half hours before declaring curfew andrefused to deploy the BSF for another fourhours. In Sardarpura two PSIs who werepresent in the village ‘disappeared’ when theattack was taking place. They kept on givingwrong messages to the DGP that every thingwas all right in the village.

Those escaping from mobs were also re-fused help in reaching safety. Muslims flee-ing from Delol to Kalol at night (see account)saw many police vehicles along the way butnot one was willing to stop and take them tosafety. In Por, the police posted at the villagetook no action to counter the killer mobs andinstead, told the Muslims to flee. Even in this,they provided no help, so the entire Muslimpopulation of the village habitation had to

cram themselves into the two tempos avail-able with them. Six of them died of suffoca-tion. In Anjanwa, the police were called on themorning of the 4th but help eventually arrivedonly on the evening of the 5th. In the mean-time 11 people had been killed.

In most cases, the police had prior knowl-edge of oncoming attacks. This did not, how-ever, translate into any preventive measures.Preventive arrests did take place but these ar-rests do not seem to have made any differenceto the number or intensity of mob attacks. Oneof the reasons is available in the figures ofthese arrests given in the table below:

Preventive Arrestsfor the six districts visited

District Hindu Muslim Total

Anand 20 4 24

Dahod 0 0 0

Panchmahals NA NA 115

Kheda 499 260 759

Mahesana NA NA 248

Sabarkantha 160 10 170

Source: Gujarat Government’s Submission toNHRC. Figures for Kheda are for the period upto 2April; for other districts upto 25 March.

There is a tendency in the police (or part oftheir training) to maintain a semblance of bal-ance in the number of people of each religiousgroup arrested preventively in a situation ofcommunal rioting. This is probably meant toshow an unbiased police force. In the currentsituation, where attacks were so one sided, andwere organised by the ruling party and itsassociate organizations like the VHP andBajrang Dal, the same practice makes preven-tive arrests by the police communally biasedactions.

A second reason why the preventive arrestsmade little difference is because they did not

IV. Role Of The Police

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target the main leaders. As is clear in one in-cident after another, mobs were led by knownelected representatives or functionaries of theruling party and its associates. In Delol, theBJP MLA Prabhasingh Chouhan was leadingthe mob while in Randhikpur, the leaders wereknown RSS functionaries. In Pandarwada, themob was led by the Taluk pramukh, sarpanch,ex-sarpanch and known local leaders of theVHP and BJP. In Visnagar, BJP MLAPrahladbhai Mohan Lal Patel Ghosa was seeninstigating the mob.

Given that the preventive arrests were notmeant to have practical value, they becomesolely an alibi to later proclaim that the gov-ernment wanted to control the riots. That pre-vention of escalation was not on the agenda isalso clear from the happenings of 27 Febru-ary. When the Sabarmati Express continuedonwards to Ahmadabad after the Godhra at-tack, no measures were taken to prevent aviolent buildup. Attacks by the passengersoccurred at every railway station enroute ex-cept for Kheda district where the SP orderedthe removal of every Muslim vendor from therailway platforms.

Apart from preventive arrests, BJP lead-ers (like Chief Minister Narendra Modi andUnion Minister Arun Jaitley speaking on tel-evision) as well as individual police officers (inconversations with our team) flaunt thenumber of people killed in police firing as evi-dence of the administration’s efficiency inmaintaining law and order. What perhaps isbeing forgotten is that the taking of life is per-missible only as per procedure established bylaw. Even in cases of violent mobs about tocommit heinous crimes, water cannons, tear-gas shells, lathi-charge and rubber bulletshave to be first used to disperse the mob. Thepolice appear to have interpreted the continu-ing communal violence as giving them a freerein to fire straight away.

Even more problematically, in a numberof cases under the cover of controlling mobs,the police has shot Muslims who were being

attacked, rather than their Hindu attackers.The numbers killed tell their own story.

Killings In Police Firings

District Hindu Muslim Total

Anand 5 1 6

Dahod 2 0 2

Panchmahals 4 3 7

Kheda 7 4 11

Mahesana 3 0 3

Sabarkantha 4 5 9

Total for Gujarat 66 57 123

Source: Gujarat Government’s Submission toNHRC. Figures provided are for the period 27 Feb-ruary to 25 March 2002.

There is no other explanation except thatthe police firings were communally motivated.Even in the instances where there was noovert communal bias there was a tendency toview the attacking mobs and the attacked peo-ple attempting to protect their lives and homeswith the same yardstick, as criminals on anequal footing. The impact of this is equallyapparent in the registration of crimes and sub-sequent arrests (see following section). As perroutine practice, a magisterial inquiry is car-ried out in cases of police firing. In the presentsurcharged atmosphere, an impartial judicialinquiry must be conducted, to ascertain thejustification or otherwise, into each and everycase of police firing in the state.

In short, police action has ranged from ac-tive collusion with the mobs to silent inactionin the face of cognizable and serious offences;from state apathy towards formulating andexecuting preventive measures to the unjus-tified and frequently biased resort to gunfire.What stands out conspicuously is the total lackof criminal, disciplinary, departmental or anyother action against the personnel whosebehavior was found to be contrary to estab-lished law, service rules or the constitution.Dismissals, suspensions, or even transfers as

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a punitive measure against erring officialshave been completely lacking.

Officials certainly faced transfers but thatseemed to be aimed not at erring against law,but for ‘erring’ against the government inpower. Twenty seven civil servants including10 IPS officials were transferred on 25 March.These included officers who had taken meas-ures to prevent and curtail the violence in theirareas and had won acclaim for it.

How The Guilty Escape ProsecutionIn dealing with situations of communal vio-

lence, the record of the criminal justice sys-tem in our country is far from enviable. Theguilty, as a rule, have been acquitted by thecourts – either due to defective investigationor else retraction by intimidated witnesses ora combination of the two. The groundwork forthis final outcome is laid in the immediate af-termath of the violent incidents.

In Gujarat this process is even more bla-tant and suggests a pre-existing plan. Its im-plications become visible from the recordingof the crime. The first document through whicha crime is cognised is the First InformationReport (FIR). Its contents form the basis forsubsequent investigation. Discrepancies in therecording of this document can lead to im-proper investigation and later to acquittal ofthe guilty.

The single major shortcoming is the group-ing together of a number of unrelated crimesinto one FIR. These are being referred to bythe state administration as ‘Running FIRs’.The official justification for this is that eachviolent mob indulged in a number of crimeswhen it attacked people and properties of acertain locality. The reality, however, is a farcry from this kind of situation. Different inci-dents separated over days, concerning differ-ent crimes, committed by different groups ofpeople and with different set of victims areclubbed together in one FIR. One example isthe clubbing together of separate incidents ofarson, looting, stone throwing and killing in

different localities of Kadi town by differentunlawful assemblies from the evening of 29March till the evening of 30 March (see ac-count). Another glaring example is FIR 36/2002 of P.S. Kalol, Panchmahals (see annex-ure 4). This FIR strings together a.) one inci-dent of a 5000 strong Hindu mob confrontinga 2000 strong Muslim mob at 4 p.m. on 28February at Rabbani Masjid, b.) an incidenton 1 March in a hospital compound in whichone Muslim was killed by a different mob, c.)the killing of 10 Muslims fleeing from Delolby a large Hindu mob at Ambika society on 1March , and d.) arson and attack in Boru vil-lage on 1 March.

Yet another aspect is the deliberate distor-tion in the FIRs. To facilitate this, the inform-ant for the recording of the FIR is a memberof the police force. If the contents of the FIRsare to be believed, it must be assumed thatthe policeman is guilty of serious derelictionof duty since the only function he performedwas to observe the killings and destructionindulged in by the mobs without either tak-ing preventive or protective actions or evenorganising help for the victims. To top it all,the informant’s vision was able to estimate thenumerical strength of the mobs but was inca-pable of identifying even a single person, con-sidering that many among the attackers wereelected representatives or were known func-tionaries of the ruling party.

This distortion could only be intentionalsince survivors were easily available to pro-vide an eye-witness account of the happenings.Survivors had taken refuge in relief campswhose location was not unknown to the po-lice. In Kalol, the refugee camp is across theroad from the police station, yet the policeclaim they have not been able to meet the vic-tims to take their statement. The real inten-tion becomes clear once the victims themselvesapproach the police for the registration ofFIRs. Here the existing FIR comes as a handyalibi to deny the survivors the right to file theirown FIRs. Their accounts are merely addedas statements to the existing FIRs, if at all.

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This does not give them the same sort of legalrights that an FIR does, such as the right to acopy of the FIR, or the right to intervene inthe court when criminal prosecution is beingdebated. In relief camps across the state –Godhra, Kalol, Mehemdabad, Kadi, Anand, -survivors neither know of the contents of theexisting FIR nor do they know whether theircomplaints have been incorporated in it. Insome cases, the police has been willing to ac-cept statements only if they are not accompa-nied by names of the accused.

In an attempt to ensure that they areheard, most survivors have been sending theircomplaints by registered post to the SP andthe Collector. They have not received any in-formation from either of the two offices thattheir statements/complaints have been re-ceived and whether they are being enter-tained. A majority of the FIRs continue to re-main without named accused.

Some survivors have also tried to approachthe High Court to get their complaints regis-tered. In Himmatnagar 137 victims filed apetition that their shops and business estab-lishments were looted during the time curfewwas in force. This has not been translated intoan FIR and a panchnama has not been pre-pared. The Addl. Advocate General appearingfor the state agreed to record the statement ofthe victims. The High Court did not pass anorder nor did it chastise the state for failing inits duty and behaving contrary to the provi-sions of the Cr.P.C. Similar petitions are incourt from Radhanpur village in Patan dis-trict where one person was burnt alive andthe eye-witness identifies the BJP MLA,Shankar Singh Chaudhary among the attack-ers; and from Kalol in Mahesana district de-manding registration of an FIR and recoveryof looted goods. This avenue remains limitedsince few have access to such resources andchannels. In these matters the High Court hadthe possibility to frame guidelines and moni-tor the implementation of procedure laid downby law. But the High Court has not applied itsmind in this direction.

In some cases where the police has refusedto register FIRs, victims have filed applica-tions before the Chief Judicial Magistrate toget FIRs registered. In the attack atGazipurwada (see below), mob firing led toinjuries to two women in the leg and the shoul-der. They were not allowed admission by thecivil hospital at Nadiad town. Having obtainedprivate treatment at Surabhi hospital, the at-tending doctors told the police to record thewomen’s statements. They recognize the ac-cused but the police was reluctant to take thestatement. Finally the women filed a privatecomplaint in the court of the Chief JudicialMagistrate (court enquiry no. 35/2002). Thecourt has accepted the case as a private com-plaint under S. 202 Cr.P.C. In a private com-plaint, the onus of investigation is on the com-plainant. Unlike the police, however, a privatecitizen has no powers to investigate. In suchinstances, the case will in all probability lin-ger in the court for years as a civil matter.

Another form of distortion in the FIRs andarrests is where Muslims have tried to resistthe attacking mobs. In such cases a single FIRrecords that a large mob of Hindus (all uni-dentified) attacked homes, shops and religiousplaces belonging to Muslims. A group of Mus-lims (some named) pelted stones at the Hin-dus. The crimes registered pertain to rioting,looting, arson, and desecration/destruction ofplace of worship. The accused include identi-fied Muslims and an unidentified Hindu mob.The Muslims are arrested for charges of burn-ing their own homes and shops, looting theirown belongings and desecrating their placesof worship. FIR No. 134/2002 Town P.S.Nadiad is one such case. Between 10 p.m. andmidnight on 29 March, a 1000-1500 strongmob attacked Muslim properties in theGazipurwada area of Nadiad town. Muslimstried in vain to protect their houses. The moblooted and torched the houses and some per-sons in the mob also opened fire. 15 houseswere totally destroyed. The FIR records this,but 65 Muslims were arrested by the policefrom the spot while no one in the mob was

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named. They are arrested for rioting, attemptto murder and dacoity. FIR No. Cr.16/2002 ofVaso P.S., Nadiad records that a Hindu mobof 250-300 people attacked Muslim houses atPalana village on 3 March. One Muslim resi-dent opened fire with a licenced weapon todefend the properties. Nobody was hurt. TheFIR registers crimes of attempt to murder andarson to houses. 18 Muslims were arrested.On 28 February in Saraspur area ofAhmadabad, a mob of 5-6000 thousand at-tacked the Muslim basti, there was also a po-lice firing in which eight persons were killedand about 15-20 were injured. They were allMuslims. FIR No.54/2002 was registered atP.S. Gomtipur and 27 Muslims have been ar-rested in the matter.

The attack by a Hindu mob at Umeta vil-lage in Borsad Taluka on 30 March is recordedin FIR No. 45/2002 Anklav PS. The attackwhich took place at 3.45 p.m.led to arson andlooting of houses and destruction of a masjid.Both Hindus and Muslims are recorded asaccused.

The evolving situation is one in which ar-rests have become a method of intimidatingthe Muslims, or at least are perceived as such(see table). Moreover, compared to the size ofmobs and the offences recorded in the FIRs,arrests of Hindus are, by and large, negligi-ble.

Arrests under Criminal Charges

District Hindus Muslims

Anand 284 53

Dahod 41 7

Panchmahals 222 51

Kheda 423 153

Mahesana 190 44

Sabarkantha 161 16

Source: Gujarat Government’s submission toNHRC.

In any case, the number arrested does notreflect the number actually in jail. That fig-ure is far lower. While the government refusesto share such statistics, our team found thatmost of those arrested were released on bailsoon after. In Kadi, bail was provided withinfour days of the arrest, allowing the accusedto organise mobs for renewed attacks. InMehemdabad 17 attackers were arrested fromthe scene of the crime along with the weaponsof assault on 2 March. They were chargedunder sections relating to murder, arson,dacoity and rioting. They were released on bailsince the public prosecutor did not oppose it.In the case of the 22 arrested for the Ode kill-ings, the court disallowed police remand andprovided interim bail on the grounds that theaccused needed to celebrate shivratri. It isgood to see that courts feel that police remandis another word for torture and that the ac-cused have rights including the right to bail.But this has not been the practice in any courtof our country. Would the judges do the samefor other cases in the future?

The unwillingness to investigate and pun-ish the Hindu attackers is visible in a varietyof other ways. The possession of looted goodsis potentially a crucial piece of evidence thatcould have been used to identify and impli-cate the attackers. Over a period of time, how-ever, these goods find their way into marketsand the evidence is lost. This is what has hap-pened in Gujarat. The lack of timely state in-vestigation into this aspect has not only pro-tected the accused against prosecution but hasalso created an incentive to participate in suchattacks in future.

Leave alone investigating the guilty, thestate even refuses to investigate the innocentdead. There is a large discrepancy in thenumber of people officially declared killed andthe number killed according to eyewitness ac-counts (see annexure 3). One of the reasons isthe absence of dead bodies and the lack of anyattempt by the government to collect physicalevidence of these. In Ode village in Anand dis-trict, 22 Muslims were locked and burnt alive

39

in a room. Eyewitnesses say all the 22 peoplewere killed and the dead bodies were reducedto ashes. The police have only registered 2deaths for that incident. At LimbadiyaChowkri in Panchmahals (see account ofKidiyad village, Sabarkantha), eyewitnessessaw 67 people, including many women andsmall children, burnt alive in a tempo. Onlyeight half burnt corpses were discovered. Ergo,only 8 are dead, according to the police. Insharp contrast, after the Godhra train attack,forensic experts were put on the task of col-lecting the ashes and whatever bone frag-ments remain for DNA analysis in order toascertain the number and identity of thosekilled. The same could have been done for theKidiyad villagers. In Ode, remains were col-lected 13 days after the killing. The non-re-cording of the deaths is convenient for the gov-ernment in power since it underestimates thegravity of the carnage. For the survivors itimplies that they would be denied the com-pensation to be paid in cases of death.

During the course of the investigation the fact-finding team visited 21 relief camps – inAhmadabad city, in district headquarters,taluk towns and villages. The people shelter-ing in these camps belong to both urban andrural areas. People are often found in campsfar away from their homes; villages and evenfamilies have been scattered between camps.The number of people living in the camps fluc-tuates as people move from the houses of theirrelatives to the relief camps and back. Somepeople’s attempt to return to their houses alsoadds to the instability in numbers – few ofthem are successful and most come back. Insome instances, their Hindu neighbours in-form the victims that the atmosphere is notconducive to return, in others there is an ac-tive opposition to their return accompanied bythreats and even more violence. The numberof people found in the camps also depends on

Given the refusal to register FIRs, therefusal to include names of those accused, thefact that many of those arrested are out onbail - the only option left for many victims isto work out a truce with those responsible forkilling and plunder. The problem is particu-larly grave in the rural areas where the vic-tims owning land have no choice but to return.In many villages, like Kanij (Kheda district),Por (Gandhinagar), Kuha (Ahmadabad),Randhikpur (Dahod), Muslims are being toldthey can come back only on condition that theykeep silent and withdraw the names of theaccused from their complaints or FIRs. Thisis particularly so, where the attackers wereinfluential village leaders. In Por, the accusedPatels have even informed the District Devel-opment Officer and the panchayat of their ul-timatum, but no action has been taken againstthose who have issued these threats. Justicehas obviously gone into hiding.

V. Relief and Rehabilitation

the time of day with some residents trying tofind work in safe areas close to the reliefcamps.

Nobody, it seems, has a complete list of therelief camps functioning in the state. Districtauthorities lack a comprehensive list of campslocated within a district, and only recognisesome camps. A random sampling of camps byour team revealed a consistent pattern acrossdistricts – among other things, of the nearabsence of any government provision. In or-der to get the government point of view onthese patterns, and to lodge complaints re-garding the abysmal living conditions wefound in many camps, the team spoke to theauthorities responsible for relief and rehabili-tation – the Revenue Secretary, Governmentof Gujarat, and the Collectors of Panchmahals,Anand and Sabarkantha districts. We givebelow our observations regarding the provi-

40

sion of relief and rehabilitation. It is clear fromthe official resolution and our conversationswith officials that the state does not wish toundertake the responsibility and incur thecosts of proper relief measures.

Setting up of Relief Camps1. Government Refuses to Organise Safe

Locations

The Gujarat government did not set up asingle relief camp. As the attacks on Muslimscontinued and spanned virtually the entirestate, they fled from their houses in search ofrefuge. It took the victims in the rural areas along time to find safe and secure shelters, insome cases over a week. Many of them hid asbest as they could in the fields, hills and for-ests for days together and then traveled longdistances in different directions in an atmos-phere full of terror and risk. Some found tem-porary refuge in neighbouring villages, whileothers tried to return hoping that the attackswould have ceased. Some were killed along theway. Those who managed to reach safety in-formed the police about others still hiding inthe fields. In some cases police rescued theMuslims and brought them to the camps orother safe places such as residences of rela-tives, or mosques and madrassas in villagesand towns with substantial Muslimpopulations. Sometimes even presumed safelocations turned unsafe, as happened inNadiad town, which housed many displacedpeople from villages near and far.

The state administration failed totally inproviding safe locations of its own and reliedwholly on the existence of certain villages ortowns where attacks were less probable. Thedisplaced too did not expect the state to pro-vide shelter especially after its role discussedin the previous chapter. The only refuges avail-able were those set up by Muslim dominatedpanchayats and/or Muslim/Hindu religio-po-litical organisations, who took upon them-selves the task of providing protection, feed-ing and housing the victims. Dead bodies, asand when they were discovered, were also

brought by the police to these locations. For awhole week after the violence started, provi-sion of relief was neither conducted nor con-templated by the administration.

On 6 March the state government came outwith its policy resolution regarding the provi-sions for relief (Resolution No. RHL 232 002/513/(3) S-4). The resolution glosses over thegovernment’s bounden responsibility to pro-vide safe and sanitised shelters for victims.District Collectors (.e.g in Anand,Panchmahals) interpreted the lack of ordersto organise relief camps as specific orders notto organise them. The Revenue Secretary atthe state capital confirmed to us that this isindeed what had been intended.

The Revenue Secretary’s explanation is re-vealing – “in the scenario of ongoing commu-nal attacks victims would feel secure only withtheir own communities”. This is a telling com-ment (albeit unintended) on the administra-tion’s own performance. Victims did approachthe police and district administration on in-numerable occasions for help and safety. Inmany cases help was not forthcoming, in oth-ers police connived with the mobs or at bestwatched the killings, in still others the Mus-lims were saved and left at the charity of Mus-lim residents in other villages.

When questioned why operation of thecamps was not later taken over, the reason-ing was equally facile: that the state could notprovide security; that it could not set up sepa-rate Hindu and Muslim camps; that there wasnothing wrong with registered NGOs comingto the aid of the administration. If the statecannot provide security with its monopoly overarms, how does it expect NGOs or camp or-ganisers to do so? What the government isunwilling to admit is that these NGOs are re-ally religious organisations or trusts. The gov-ernment failure to provide relief thereby push-ing people into the fold of various religioustrusts will only have the effect it officially de-plores – of further communalising society, andforcing different religious groups to arm them-selves for self defence.

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2. Camps to be recognised subject to cer-tain conditions

The resolution stated that the district ad-ministration would provide assistance upto 31May only to those camps that satisfy a numberof conditions. These stipulate that the organ-isers should be a registered society or trustexcept those already running camps in whichcase they need special permission. The campshould have at least 100 inmates. The campshould be located in a clean area, have toiletfacilities, medical care, drinking water, and aclean and healthy kitchen. In addition, thecamp organisers are to maintain a registerrecording details of all inmates, the losses andinjuries suffered, their time of arrival, depar-ture and place of departure. Violation of anyof these conditions can lead to closure of thecamp.

Yet there is no clause specifying what hap-pens to the inmates in the case of closure, orin cases where the administration refuses toprovide registration to the camp. Where medi-cal, sanitation, water and toilet facilities arelacking, the administration does not take theresponsibility of providing this. The role of theadministration is restricted to providing a li-aison officer and a medical officer to inspectthe camp.

The outcome of such a policy is not diffi-cult to imagine. A substantial number of campsin every district have not been recognised bythe administration, such as the camps at Kadi(Mahesana district), Mehemdabad, Kesra andMehlaj (all in Kheda district). Not surprisinglytherefore, while the number of camps in theofficial list was 95 as on 13 April, unofficialsources at the time put it at 146 camps in theentire state. While the revenue secretaryclaimed that there were 6 camps in the wholeof Anand district, we found seven camps inAnand town itself and in all, 17 camps in thedistrict. In village Mehlaj about 500 peoplefrom 22 villages have taken shelter, but whenthe village panchayat asked for governmentaid, the response it received was that becauseno one in the village had been affected by the

riots, no aid could be given (see box 1). At thiscamp grain is being sent by an organisationJan Kalyan. Similarly when the panchayat atMatar in Kheda district applied for registra-tion of the camp at village Matar in the begin-ning of April they were told that it was timeto wind up the camps and hence new campscould not be registered at this stage.

Some camps that were initially recognizedhave been subsequently derecognized sincethey did not meet the stipulated requirements.The relief camp at Jinjer in Kheda district isa glaring example. 200-250 residents continueto stay in the camp as the government refusesto make any provisions for them.

Given the scale of displacement it is im-practical to expect any private organisationto deliver. For the state to then penalise them

Without Comment

The Sarpanch of Mehlaj village of Matar talukawrote to the Taluka Development Officer(Mamlatdar) asking for governmental support tothe relief camp at the village.A translation of the reply is printed below:ToThe SarpanchMehlaj villageSubject: Regarding relief for the people affected

by communal trouble and taking refugein Mehlaj village

Sir,With reference to your application dated14.3.2002 you are informed of the following:For the people affected by communal trouble andthose whose property has been damaged andthose who are having difficulty in getting a placeto live and food to eat, there is provision for reliefto such people.In this village there are no people of such cat-egory therefore we are not sending relief.sd/-Mamlatdar, Matar

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by withholding recognition without makingany alternative provision is criminal. Evi-dently the state neither wants to help victimsitself nor enable others to do so.

Running of the Camps1. Provision of Food

The camps recognized by the governmentare not in much better shape either. The onlyhelp accorded to the inmates of these campsis a food ration amounting to 500 gm of cerealand 50 gm. each of pulses edible oil, sugar andmilk, and a dole of Rs. 5 per person per day.The supplies are supposed to be made on aweekly basis.

At some of the recognised camps that theteam visited, supply of rations was irregularand far short of the slated amount. TheKohinoor Rahat Camp in Anand town, for ex-ample, started functioning from 3 March whendisplaced people started arriving. With 700people, the camp got a week’s ration on 6March. The next week’s ration did not arrive.Over the fortnight the number of inmates hadgrown to 1155 people from 378 families be-longing to 95 villages. The next ration on 2April was sanctioned for 247 people and theamount supplied was even lesser than thatsanctioned. Pleas for more supplies fell on deafears. The Collector of the district had little tosay except that the camp organisers are re-quired to supply accurate figures. What theliason officer was doing or meant to do is thusunclear. With the exception of the camps atAhmadabad city, the team could not find theexistence of a liaison or medical officer in anyof the camps.

One explanation given by a local officialwas that the control room for relief and reha-bilitation is located at Gandhinagar which hasto keep track of the migration to and from thecamps everyday. There is a lot of migrationboth ways: in Mehmedabad the inmates num-bered 1984 on 3 March and had come down to732 by 11 April. Of these 534 had left for theirvillage while 718 had gone to stay with rela-tives. In the Shah Alam camp at Ahmadabad

the inmates numbered 10,537 on 3 March andgrew to 13,500 by 16 April. For some inexpli-cable reason the authorities have only kepttrack of the number of people going out of thecamp and not those coming in. The figures ofinmates available with the government arebound to be serious underestimates. The Col-lector at Anand informed the team that thereis no mechanism to sort this out. The decisionof the government is final. In effect, then, asystem is in place aimed to deny relief: throughnon-registration of the camps, through faultyrecording of the number of inmates andthrough the lack of a system of redress.

2. Lack of Basic amenitiesExcept for a few camps in Ahmadabad,

basic amenities such as clean drinking water,shelter from the elements, medical and sani-tation facilities are completely absent in vir-tually all the camps in the rural areas andtaluk towns.

Santrampur and Kalol relief camps areglaring examples of the total lack of drainageand sanitation, and are sitting ducks for theoutbreak of epidemics. The governmentrefuses to provide alternate arrangements,and even the essential food ration. Recent re-ports suggest incidence of measles, typhoid,gastroenteritis have been on the increase inthe camps. In Godhra alone, 60 cases of mea-sles have been reported by doctors doing vol-untary work in the camps. On 18 April theUnion Health Minister C.P. Thakur admittedthat cases of measles had been detected yetrestricted the figure to 8 in five camps!

The issue of providing drinking water, sani-tation and medical facilities is one of immedi-ate importance with the growing summer heatand fear of heat related illnesses ranging fromheat stroke to diarrhoea and cholera. The im-pending monsoons within a month will makethings worse. The Collector of Panchmahals,where some of the worst camps like Kalol andSantrampur are located, washed her hands offthe problem by saying that the policy had noprovisions for tents and toilets. Given the ab-

43

sence of rehabilitation and the continuing ri-oting and tension, relief camps will need tocontinue for a long time. Government initia-tives need to improve substantially in bothquantity and quality.

Schooling has practically come to a stand-still, apart from religious classes in some ofthe camps. The government has made no pro-vision for this. There is a need to initiate someincome generating schemes for the camp in-mates. Many inmates of camps presently lackevery sort of personal belonging that is con-sidered necessary for day-to-day life. Many donot have a single change of clothes or even abit of money in the pocket.

RehabilitationProper rehabilitation of victims involves a

number of aspects. First and foremost is anenvironment free from fear, which at the veryleast demands that the identified attackersshould be absent from the victims’ surround-ings. Secondly it requires the existence of ahouse to live in with the belongings necessaryto run a household. Third is a means to earn alivelihood: be it employment, or the tools andmeans to carry on a trade or profession. Whereearning members are killed or disabled, suffi-cient ex-gratia assistance is required to enablefamilies to support themselves.

1. Ex-gratia payments for loss of life andinjury

The governmental response to loss of livesand injury is available from three resolutionsissued by the revenue department. The firstdated 28 February (No. RHL/232002/513/S-4)provides for an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 2 lakhfor those killed and injured (mostly Hindu) inthe train burning at Godhra. A resolution of 2March fixed the ex-gratia payment for liveslost in the post-Godhra carnage (mostly Mus-lim) at Rs. 1 lakh. Following press reports anda public outcry at the discrimination even indeath, by a resolution of 9 March, the govern-ment chose to bring down the compensationfor the Godhra victims to Rs. 1 lakh. This isevidence not just of how cussed the govern-

ment is against Muslims, but how little it careseven for Hindus. The sensible thing to dowould have been to have uniformly increasedit to at least Rs. 2 lakhs for everyone. By thesecond week of April compensation had beenpaid for about 450 deaths. Only recogniseddeaths (i.e. those on the official list) are beingcompensated – the death toll in fact is muchhigher.

This assistance amount in case of death isamong the lowest paid to the victims of anycommunal killings in the recent past. In theBhopal riots of December 1992, ex-gratiaamount was Rs. 2.2 lakh. Since the prices haveapproximately doubled since then, the equiva-lent amount today is around Rs. 4.4 lakh. InBhagalpur in October-November 1989 theamount paid was Rs. 1 lakh, its present dayequivalent is 2.8 lakh. In the Congress organ-ised carnage of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984, whichis being compared to the present carnage bothin the public sphere as well as by the govern-ment in Parliament, the amount paid was Rs.2 lakh. Initially the government ordered Rs.10,000 as compensation which was increasedto Rs. 20,000 by the R.N. Mishra Commissionof enquiry. In 1997 the High Court awarded atotal of Rs. 2 lakh as compensation with addi-tional interest payable from October 1984 tillthe date of payment. The amount worked outto Rs. 6.9 lakhs in 1997. Its present-dayequivalent is over Rs. 9 lakhs. It should alsobe noted that the state of Gujarat has amongthe highest per capita GDP and therefore hasa responsibility to provide better ex-gratiaassistance, taking into account both the leveland cost of living of the people and the abilityof the state government to pay.

Even in terms of injuries sustained, thegovernment has been both miserly and bla-tantly discriminatory between the Godhra vic-tims and others. The 28 February resolutionfixed an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 5000-50,000for permanent disability and Rs. 1000-5000 fortemporary disabilities. For the predominantlyMuslim victims of the subsequent genocide, a2 March resolution (RHL/232002/513/(2)/S-4)

44

provides no payment for temporary disabili-ties at all. Even for permanent disabilities, theamount has been substantially scaled down:Rs. 2,000 for disability upto 10%, Rs. 3,000 fordisability between 10% and 30%, Rs. 5,000 be-tween 30% and 40% and Rs. 50,000 for above40% disability. These figures were based on a1992 valuation and not upgraded. In this pettyvaluation whether the government assessesan injury as 10% or 40% becomes finally im-material. For some like Mohammad Javedfrom Kadi village whose hand was blown offby a bomb, the loss of a hand also means theloss of livelihood. He can no longer performthe work of cleaning he used to do.

The procedure for obtaining assistance formedical expenditures of those who weretreated privately is designed to deprive themof it. Firstly, the onus is on the victims to ob-tain a disability certificate from the doctor,obtain a counter signature from the civil sur-geon and produce all this before the Collector.Victims who suffer injuries that do not causepermanent disability are denied even this pal-try medical assistance.

2. Assistance for damage to property

The single most striking feature of the at-tacks was destruction and looting of housesand property. It was far more generalized thankilling. In village after village, houses, shopsand kiosks were torched or demolished. InKheda district alone, over 3000 residentialhouses have been completely destroyed, ac-cording to official figures. This looting, arsonand destruction has affected people cuttingacross classes, from landless casual laborersand middle class people to rich traders andland owners. The losses suffered by the richare enormous and decades will be required tomake up for what has been lost. For instance,Bohra trader Kasimbhai lost a rice mill inMehmedabad which is estimated at Rs. 30lakhs. The losses of the poor may be small inabsolute terms but represent everything theyhave. Making up the loss is harder and theyare likely to be pushed further to destitution.People have lost everything from utensils, beds

and bedding, clothes, cash and valuables tohouses, tools, implements, means of livelihoodand grain stocks.

The assistance for damages to houses, prop-erty and household belongings is dealt withthrough four resolutions. The first dated 5March provides for cash doles and assistancefor household kits. The cash dole is fixed atRs. 15 per person per day, for a family of amaximum of 5 persons, for a maximum pe-riod of 15 days. Though basically a relief meas-ure for those displaced, this has been linkedto a more than 50% damage to the dwellingplace. Thus people whose dwellings are notsubstantially damaged and have been forcedout because of threats to life are not eligible.It is also not payable to those residing in re-lief camps. The period of payment of the dolehas not been extended even though return isnot a possibility, over two months since thedisplacement. The assistance for householdkits is a one-time payment of Rs. 1,250 perfamily for those whose household goods havesuffered damage of more than this amount.Both these payments are dependent on a sur-vey by the administration. As far as the teamcould ascertain, the administration did notinform or otherwise enable the victims to bepresent during this survey to explain theirloss.

Assistance for movable and earning assetshas been fixed at the actual loss with an up-per limit of Rs. 10,000 through another reso-lution dated 11 March 2002. This resolutionis based on earlier such resolutions framed in1986 and 1989. While the 1986 resolution fixedthe government assistance limit at 5000, the1989 resolution had raised it to Rs. 10,000.However, while framing the current resolu-tion it did not occur to the government that13 years had elapsed and there was a need tochange the ceiling limit to at least compen-sate for higher prices. The eligibility criterionfor availing of this assistance requires that theaffected person should not have participatedin the communal disturbance and should notbe named in any criminal complaint. As noted

45

earlier a number of FIRs concerning attacksby Hindu mobs have falsely named Muslimsas accused. This criterion would further vic-timize those falsely implicated.

A resolution dated 20 March 2002 has fixedthe compensation amount for houses lost be-tween Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 50,000 – the same asthat fixed in 1992. The process of assessinghouse damages was begun when the displacedpeople were too scared to venture out of therelief camps. Thus the assessment of damageto the house - whether damaged, burnt or de-molished - was done without an inkling of theoriginal structure. In Kanij village of Kheradistrict where victims have gone back to theirhouses, compensation received for burnt anddestroyed houses ranges from Rs. 1000 to Rs.25,000. It is not surprising therefore that peo-ple continue to stay in canvas shelters outsidetheir burnt houses – the assistance paid tothem is insufficient even to repair some of thehouses which are partially damaged. About 50victims of Kadi in Mahesana district have gotcash varying from Rs. 200 to Rs. 10,000 forburnt houses or shops. In Mehmedabad campwe heard that a large number of villagers andjuggi dwellers of the town have been given Rs.1700, probably for damaged houses.

The final resolution dated 16 March 2002fixes the assistance for industries, shops andself-employed people. Here the governmentprovides a 4% interest subsidy for three yearson loans of upto Rs. 1 lakh sanctioned by banksand financial institutions. Apart from this,payments of sales tax can be deferred for 5years and of electricity duty for one year. Thisagain is an exact replica of the policy framedin 1992.

The entire rehabilitation package is seri-ously flawed. It refuses to recognize the normsset throughout the country for compensationof damages. It relies on policies drafted a dec-ade or more ago without even taking thebother of inflating the amounts specified bythe price index. It is insensitive to the prob-lems of the poor. There is no compensation,for example, for the loss of belongings, loss of

days of work, loss of the crop, cattle and grainstocks. The meager compensation being doledout by the government may help some victimstide over their immediate consumption needs.To call it rehabilitation, however, is a fraud.

The Prime Minister visited the devastatedstate on 4 April, over a month after the trou-ble began. He announced an additional com-pensation of Rs. 1 lakh for those killed, reha-bilitation of widows and orphaned children,textbooks and school uniforms for children,improvements in the living conditions of re-lief camps, 35 kg of food grains to victims be-low the poverty line, and Rs. 50,000 for de-stroyed houses and Rs. 15,000 for those par-tially damaged. None of this has been dis-bursed and, given the complete silence on thiscount since that date, in all likelihood it willnever be. When the government was in a fixin Parliament over the question of dismissingthe Narendra Modi government, the PrimeMinister declared the release of Rs. 150 croresfrom the Center on 1 May. The amountsquoted and the schemes declared are meagrein the face of the destruction and killing. Butthat is the smaller worry. The real issue iswhether compensation, relief and rehabilita-tion are rights of the citizens and their provi-sion is a duty and responsibility of the state.Or will populist slogans and political expedi-ency determine peoples’ lives and livelihood?

3. Alternative livelihoods?

The effect of the genocide on livelihoods willbe a long term one. Several have been ren-dered unemployed or destituted - Ghaffarbhaiof Limkheda, a bidi maker has not been ableto return to his village for 2 months, or getwork; several young men of Sawala have beenunable to drive their autorickshaws and earna rupee in two months, because it is not safeto pass through Hindu areas. The govern-ment’s meagre and partisan policy of rehabili-tation does not even begin to address the mag-nitude of the issue.

Several of those now living in camps usedto work as agricultural labour in fields belong-

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ing to Hindus (e.g. in the fields of the Patels ofSardarpura) or as workers in Hindu ownedworkshops, brick kilns or factories. They willobviously be unable to find employment thereagain. While on occasion, the VHP andBajrang Dal leaders threatened the ownerswith dire consequences if they continued toemploy Muslims, in some instances the Hinduowner of an establishment deliberately re-trenched the Muslim workers. This was theconsequence of a systematic campaign of eco-nomic boycott of Muslims undertaken by theVHP and Bajrang Dal through leaflets andmeetings from 1 March. Casual workers in bigand small cities continue to be particularly tar-geted by the campaign. The looting and/orburning of Muslim hotels, restaurants, trucksand factories also mean loss of employment-not just for the owners and managers but alsofor the employees of these establishments,both Hindu and Muslim.

Given that till date the state has failed toprovide even the basic security for Muslims toreach their places of work - 2 Muslim work-ers in Ahmadabad were killed enroute to workin early May - or create any alternative sourcesof livelihood, economic rehabilitation of thevictims is obviously last on the government’sagenda.

4. The return to ‘normalcy’: closure ofRelief Camps

The government did not set up reliefcamps. When organisations did, in a numberof cases the government refused to recognisethese. In those that did receive the state gov-ernment’s tardy, grudging ‘recognition’ thefood supply, and resources disbursed weremeager to begin with and did not increase com-mensurate with the increase in refugees. Se-curity of the victims in camps was left almostentirely in the hands of the ‘community’. Andwhen the pressure started building on thestate government to restore ‘normalcy’, in theGujarat government’s dictionary, it was de-fined by ‘the winding up of relief camps’. Acurious conundrum emerges- the camps areto be closed down because normalcy has to be

established. And of course, for the rest of thecountry, normalcy has been established be-cause the camps have been closed down.

The government resolution (RHL 232002/ 513/(3) C.4) had granted permission forrunning relief camps up to 31 May. This reso-lution was passed on 6 March, 2002 long be-fore the fact of continued communal violencein the area became apparent. For many livingin relief camps across the state this deadlineis far too soon.

At least 3 state ministers (Civil SuppliesMinister Bharat Barot, Urban DevelopmentMinister IK Jadeja and Home MinisterGordhan Zadaphia) have been campaigningfor the removal of relief camps in Ahmadabad(Shahibaug, Shahpur, and Ramol-Jantanagar) on the grounds that they harbouranti-social elements and are becoming a secu-rity risk to nearby Hindu residents. Exactlywho is a threat to whom is evident from theattack on the camp in Dariyakhan Ghummat,Shahi Baug, by Hindu communal goons in thelater half of April. Tear gas shells lobbed intothe Dariyakhan Camp ‘by mistake’ by the po-lice led to the death due to shock of 75 yearold Fatimabibi Rehamjibhai on 25 April (TheIndian Express, 26/4/2002). In the two campsin Saraspur, Ramanlal ni Chali and ShahMohammad Roza, inmates fled after their

Of Fact and Fiction

For the whole State:Official figure: 1,11,414 persons or 1.1 lakhFigures given by NGOs working in reliefcamps: 1.75 lakhs in relief camps,30,000-40,000 with relatives,i.e. a total of over 2 lakhs.For Anand district:Official figure: 1254 persons in campsActual number at Kohinoor Camp, Anand town:1155 personsThere are 17 camps in the district !

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camp was attacked on April 24 and took shel-ter in Jamia Faiz-Al Noor J.M Mills compound.

These pronouncements on theAhmadabad camps came at a time when con-crete steps were being taken by some DistrictCollectors to forcibly wind up relief camps.Mamlatdars and police officials in various dis-tricts have been threatening to close downrelief camps for over a month. Through a GOdated 26/4/2002 the Dahod Collector, postedto the district just a few days previously,abruptly closed down 4 camps in Dahod dis-trict with immediate effect.

A number of Muslims do want to go backto their villages. Those with fields need to pre-pare for the next planting season and avoidtheir land being encroached upon by others.But a fundamental requirement for going backis a basic sense of security. This comes withfood, with shelter, with a means of livelihood,and with the knowledge that those guilty ofperpetrating the attacks against them are be-ing prosecuted. In Gujarat today the state isunable to guarantee even one of these to theMuslims who are living in relief camps or tothose who have returned to their villages. InSanjeli, where villagers were sent back aftertheir camp at Dahod was closed, the govern-ment has provided an escort of 24 BSF men.Yet, villagers continue to feel insecure – at theheight of the attack which left almost 600houses burnt and 16 people killed, a mob of30,000 had surrounded the village. Even if theBSF were to save them from further attack,there is little to subsist on. Their houses havenot been rebuilt. Their tools and implements,kiosks and shops have been totally destroyed.Only a few have received the limited compen-sation. Back in their village the victims hud-dle in the burnt out shells of some houses, inthe midst of row upon row of desolate charredstructures. The guilty roam free. This is whatnormalcy looks like this Gujarat summer.

There are many who do not want to re-turn like the villagers of Anjanwa andPandarwada who suffered grevious loss of lifeand betrayal by neighbours. Others will be

unable to return, since the family breadwin-ners have been killed or seriously injured.Where can they go - the two orphaned chil-dren who survived Sardarpura; Sultani fromEral, who was raped and widowed with twosmall children to raise; old and disabledBenaben of Katwara who lost all her savingsfor her daughter’s wedding; Mohammad Javedof Kadi who lost his hand?

In any case, Sanjeli is a rare case, whereBSF men were sent as security. In most cases,the state has not made simple arrangementsfor the protection of Muslims who go back tosee their houses, survey the damage, or ex-plore the possibility of returning. In camp af-ter camp, there are accounts of Muslims whowent back, overcoming their very legitimatefear, and were beaten up. If their houses andshops were as yet unharmed or simply looted,they were now torched to give them the mes-sage that they should not come back. The po-lice who accompanied villagers back to theirvillages to see the damage and gauge the pos-sibility of going back, repeatedly failed to pro-tect them.

Kulsum Ghani Champaneria of villageSathamba of Bayad taluka, Sabarkantha dis-trict, went back to her village on 10 April. Thetea-shop she used to run, intact till then, wasburnt down and she was told to go back to thecamp. Muslim villagers of Vadagam andBhiloda of Sabarkantha district also had simi-lar experiences. About a week age 150 fami-lies of Sayala village in Panchmahals left thesecurity of the Godhra relief camp and triedto return to their homes. Threatened with direconsequences, they were forced to return tothe camp. (TOI, 1/5/2002) The police tookPathan Jafar Khan back to his home inBaranpura, Vadodara, to assess the damage.A mob attacked from all sides even as the re-port was being filed. The policemen ran andthose in the Special Reserve Police tent sta-tioned there refused to come out and help.(Frontline 10/5/2002)

It is unlikely that the state governmentsand district administrations are unaware of

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the price paid by Muslims for returning totheir villages, where they have done so. Incamps in Mehmedabad, Matar, Anand wewere told that the district administration andthe police are asking the people to return- evenconditionally. As mentioned earlier, in somevillages, the conditions include dropping FIRsor the names of the accused. In other places,they have been told to stop wearing all signsof religious identity or offering namaz, if theyare to be ‘allowed’ to come back. Almost eve-rywhere that Muslims have gone back to theirvillages, it is on the basis of similarly taintedcompromises. In some instances, as inRandhikpur, the villagers are battling on try-ing to get some justice, to get the guilty booked,

and refusing this conditional return. Such re-sistance is possible only if they have the op-tion to stay on in the camps.

The state forcing closure of camps with-out even the semblance of rehabilitation orsimple protection to victims, well before itsown earlier deadline is thus not an innocentdesire to establish normalcy. It is a calculatedmove to ensure two objectives at once- thatthe Muslim victims go back to villages to liveon terms set by the attackers, quietly and with-out a fuss, subsuming their identity. This thenis the bloody politics of ‘peace’: Golwalkar’svision of a second class status for minoritiescome true.

VI. Conclusion

Here then is the record of the Gujarat car-nage and its aftermath in brief.

The numbers killed among the highest inany riot in recent history. Affecting the popu-lation across an entire state. Nearly 3 monthsafter the attacks began, the number of peoplekilled still remain unknown to the govern-ment. Or else the government chooses not todivulge the fact.

State connivance at the highest level. True,communal killings have normally not occurredon a large scale without support from statefunctionaries. A senior police officer com-mented on the Bombay riots of 1992: “Thereis no riot in this country that can continue itsmayhem beyond 24 hours unless the statepermits it.” Senior police officials in Gujaratstated the same in a more obscure fashion tosay that the problem lies in the fact that thepolice is answerable to the politicians as wellas to the judiciary. But the Gujarat govern-ment made a history of sorts by transferringofficials at key posts who were successful in#containing and controlling the mayhem.

Gujarat carnage is not the first where theguilty would go scot free. In riot after riot nei-

ther those who organised the killer mobs, northe state functionaries who facilitated themhave been brought to book. In fact the historyof such precedents enabled the perpetrationof organised killing in Gujarat of such natureand scale. But, Gujarat plans to outdo othersin the sheer extent of the planning that seemsto have gone into ensuring this acquittal. Priorassurance of immunity from arrest, prison andpunishment given to attackers by the VHP/Bajrang Dal leaders as “Our government is inpower” was translated into reality by the strat-egies adopted by the police after each commu-nal attack. These strategies were smoothly anduniversally implemented – the registration offaulty FIRs before the victims got an opportu-nity to file their information, refusal to acceptsuch information when it is brought beforethem, the non-collection of crucial evidencelike petrol cans, weapons used to burn and kill,the refusal to register the names of those iden-tified and their ‘natural’ consequence in a re-fusal to apprehend them.

The characteristic that makes the Gujaratcarnage especially grave is the combinationof intensive and focused mobilisation and or-ganisation by the VHP/Bajrang Dal/RSS and

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an elected government which is an eagerfacilitator. Elected representatives and min-isters as also state functionaries are openlyassociated and active members of these organi-sations. Manipulation of local and structuralfactors, tensions and resentment, deploymentof lies and half truths, control of official ma-chinery and key posts, has led an unprec-edented degree of consent for their agenda ofhate. Sustained hate propaganda acceleratedin the last couple of years, further intensifiedin the last 6 months, has successfully con-vinced a substantial section of the majorityHindu community that they are under threatfrom the Muslims. Myths and prejudices aboutMuslims have played a vital role in incitingHindus and adivasis to attack the community.The depth and spread of this build-up and itsclose association with the state distinguishesGujarat.

Anti-Muslim mobilisation itself has notmade the carnage. It is its translation into of-ficial policies and strategies that has enabledthe carnage to occur. The public pronounce-ments and the policies pursued after the com-munal attacks by those holding the highestoffices in the state expose them. There has notbeen a single unqualified statement condemn-ing the attacks on the Muslim people and theirproperties. On the contrary there are severalstatements justifying the killings as a back-lash, a ‘reaction’. The message is clear.

This refusal to condemn the carnage is im-plemented in policy. The government clearlydoes not, even after such ghastly attacks, feelthe need to provide succour to survivors oreven be seen to be assisting Muslims, at thisjuncture. This is what makes the Gujarat car-nage far more sinister.

What does this portend immediately andin real terms? It means that the communalattacks continue even 3 months and much

army deployment, media and political criti-cism later. Simply as a brazen declaration ofthe complete absence of political will to stopthem or to sincerely assist Muslims to get jus-tice and to rebuild broken lives and homes.Survivors carry on in relief camps not recog-nised by the government – ‘non recognisedvictims’ of sorts. Food in even several recog-nised camps is inadequate, sanitation notional,the responsibility for organising security is leftto the mercies of respective religious commu-nity. In most rural camps schooling, medicalhelp, employment generation are unheard of.Policies formulated for the rehabilitation aresuch as to prevent the victims from ever be-ing able to stand on their feet. The pitiablecompensation being offered for loss of life orlivelihood is among the lowest offered any-where in the country. And Gujarat is amongthe states with the highest per capita income.

What is evident in all of the above is theconsistent and intentional refusal of the statein Gujarat to protect the right to life and lib-erty of a large number of its citizens in thecourse of the post Godhra carnage. Amply clearalso is the actual collusion with those who tookaway the fundamental rights of a section ofcitizens on the basis of their religion, in itselfa denial of the right to freedom from discrimi-nation. The state did not really fail in Gujarat— it deliberately suspended the rule of law,and violated the rights of the people and con-tinues to do so. It has to be held accountable.

The Gujarat carnage of 2002 will probablyone day, a decade or two later, become part ofanother forgotten chapter of the history of ourpeople. Its victims marginalised, wanting forboth justice and livelihood. Those attemptingsimilar attacks in the future more cocksure oftheir success. Those who stand by the rightsof the individual and a democratic social or-der need to reflect very carefullyon what steps they must take as citizens to isolateand punish the guilty, defend the victims, and ensuresuch pogroms never happen again.

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Annexures

Annexure 1

Accounts of incidents of communal attack inthe following villages and urban localities wererecorded by the PUDR team in the various reliefcamps. Very brief descriptions of some incidentsnot covered in the text are arranged alphabeticallybelow by district. These accounts do not cover allthe incidents in the place mentioned. The reliefcamps camps visited by the team are:

District Place (number of camps visited)Panchmahals Godhra(2), Kalol(1),

Santrampur(1), Lunawada(1),Dahod(3)

Mahesana Kadi(1), Nandasan(1), Mandali(1),Sawala(1)

Sabarkantha Modasa(1), Pandpur(1)Kheda Mehemdabad(1), Matar(1),

Mehlaj(1)Anand Kohinoor (Anand)(1)Ahmadabad Chartora Kabristan (Gomtipur)(1),

Kankariya Shala No.7&8 (1),Bapunagar (1)

Ahmadabad

1. Harniyav (relief camp, Mehemdabad)Attacked on 2 March, Dargah destroyed.Muslim families were protected by Thakurneighbours. There were only five Muslimfamilies in the village that has a total popula-tion of about 20,000.

2. Maandal (relief camp Kadi)Village has 500 Muslim houses out of a total of2000 houses. Hawaldar informed the Muslimsto leave the village on 28 Feb. Then the mob,Patels from neighbouring villages attacked, 50people were injured due to petrol bombs, stonethrowing, and pellets from gunfire. 50 houses,15 shops and one soda factory were burnt.

3. Sanad (relief camp, Kadi):There are about 125 Muslim houses in thevillage. Attacked on 28 Feb, two houses andone shop were burnt.

4. Shah Alam Toll Naka, Ahmadabad city(relief camp, Kankariya shala no. 7 & 8)575 people from one small cluster of Bhilhutments were in this one camp. On 28February at about 12 noon a mob came andstarted attacking the houses. The hutments arelocated in the midst of a muslim locality. Oneperson (45 year old Bhagaji Bhil) was injuredand later died in hospital. An FIR has beenlodged in the PS Dani Limbda. On 1 Marchagain there was an attack on the cluster frommultistoried houses nearby. Stones and bottleswere thrown at them. Later 60 houses wereburnt. The Bhils ran to the Kankariya area andhave been there ever since.

Anand

5. Ode (relief camp, Anand)Ode is a Nagarpalika Kasba with about 300-350 Muslim houses. On 28 Feb 2-3 shops wereburnt. Most of the people escaped to therailway station, came back on 3 March. Twentytwo people were burnt alive in a room and fourothers near the village while trying to escape.Apart from these gruesome killings all 3March. Twenty two people were burnt alive ina room and four others near the village whiletrying to escape. Apart from these gruesomekillings all the houses were burnt.

6. Vasad (relief camp, Mehemdabad)28 February: One Muslim owned hotel, amosque and a dargah were severely damagedby a mob. A tractor/ bulldozer was used tolevel the graveyard. The SRP came to thevillage. On 1 March a mob of 200-300 peoplefrom the village started an attack. The sarpanchwas involved. The Muslims left their housesand the village. It appears that at about 4.30p.m. there was a firing in Vasad in which 1person was killed and case registered against 6Muslims. On 2 March a Muslim driver in thestate transport service was burnt to death whenhe went to rejoin work.

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Baroda

7. Sokhada (relief camp, Mehlaj)Attacked on 28 Feb, all 150 houses of Muslimswere looted and burnt by a mob from outside,which was joined by the local villagers.Sarpanch betrayed them.

Dahod

8. Katwara (relief camp, Dahod)Attacked by adivasis repeatedly on 28 Feb, 1and 2 March, one masjid and four houses wereburnt. There is a police outpost with 3 police-men in the village but they did nothing. Thepolice from Dahod who were on combingmissions promised the adivasis that no actionwould be taken against them. Police has filedan FIR. Chamars gave shelter to the muslimsfor one and a half day were than rescued byZainuddin Qazi from Dahod . Adivasi sarpanchand his wife helped muslims before theyescaped.

9. Limkheda (relief camp, Dahod)On 27th February told that tomorrow bandh.Took sign to agree to bandh. At night, about500-600 persons started burning motor cycles,cars. We sat in vehicle to go. Fourteen personswere burnt at Dehrol station - four smallchildren are orphans today. We reached peoplePiplod and stayed at Iqbal Haji MohammedDadi’s house for two days. On Friday night,mob attacked and started burning wood“peethas” and surrounded us with swords. OnSaturday came to Dahod.

10.Piplod (relief camp, Dahod)Friday 1st March : Meeting at 10 a.m. attendedby about 100-150 persons. Decided that at 10p.m. will kill/burn all muslims. Don’t wantMuslims here. The Police Sub Inspectorpresent when approached referring to Godhrasaid, “Jaisa kiya hai, vaisa bharna padega”(Asyou have done so you shall have to have topay). Rumours were spread that Muslims fromsurrounding villages are going to come and lootand rape our women.At about 3 p.m. started from Randhikpur roadside, looted and burnt 15 houses. Then on

Godhra Road looted and burnt 10 houses anddamaged the masjid. Five SRP personnel, 5policemen with rifles were present . They saidwe don’t have orders to fire. 20 trucks burnt.Out of 160 houses, only 10-12 left, rest havebeen burnt.Five days after the incident, within the railwayprecincts Habibbhai Gulabbhai Desarwala andFerozkhan (Pathan) were stabbed and thenburnt.

Kheda

11.Godasar (relief camp, Matar)The village has 50-60 Muslim families and 400Hindu families. Muslim families lived in asettlement close to the river. While villages inthe vicinity were being attacked, the Muslimsof the village packed to leave on 1 March. Justbefore leaving in the evening one Hindu familywhich lived close to the Muslim settlement wasattacked and 3 people killed. The fleeingmuslims were hunted down in the fields bymobs during the night. 18 of them were killed.

12.HaldarwasMuslims (130 houses) On 28 February in theevening , tola of 1500-2000 from outside came,with weapons and damaged the Masjid andbroke four shops.On 2 March rumour spread that 4 trucks ofMuslims are coming from outside to kill. TheThakurs said we will not be able to protect you.You leave. Muslims ran away in the fields. Allthe shops and houses were looted and burnt.The Masjid was destroyed . Were in the wheatfields for a day and night. Rescued by thepolice and brought to Bapu Nagar Relief Campon 5th March.

13.Katak Pura (relief camp, Matar)Attacked by a mob from neighbouring villages,one masjid and two dargahs were destroyed.Sarpanch, a Patel protected them and also theirhouses. There were 30 muslim and about 100Hindu families in the village.

14.Lansara Talwadi, Mehmdabad (relief camp,Mehemdabad) :Attacked on 1 March. All 8 Muslim houses

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were looted and burnt, stored fodder burnt,goats and hens were stolen. Have got Rs. 1700as compensation.. No arrests have been made.Attackers threatening villagers. Muslims own2- 10 bighas of land but too scared to go back.

15.Lawal (relief camp, Matar)1 March: The sarpanch told the Muslimfamilies to flee. A masjid and a madrasa wereattacked and destroyed.

16.Mangroli (relief camp, Mehlaj)Attacked on 5 March at 10pm. Houses of allthree Muslim families completely looted anddestroyed. Muslims were sheltered by theHindu neighbours.

17.Mehemdabad, locality Phata Kalav, KachaiRoad (relief camp, Mehemdabad)Attacked on 1 March by a mob from neigh-bouring localities, all sixteen kaccha houses ofMuslim labourers were burnt. Police waspresent but did nothing.

18.Mehmdabad Housing society, Mehmdabadtown (relief camp, Mehemdabad)This society had 10- 15 houses of Muslims andabout 400 houses of Hindus. Attacked on 1March, afternoon. Men had gone for work,women and children fled. All belongingslooted, houses were not burnt because they didnot belong to the Muslims. No complaint filed,no compensation.

19.Mehmdabad town, Mahuda road (reliefcamp, Mehemdabad)There were 6 Muslim jhuggis and about 40 –50jhuggis of the Hindus. Mob attacked on 1March and burnt the six houses of the Muslimcasual labourers. People escaped, six of themby hiding in a tank. Have not gone back to theirlocality. Each family has got Rs 1700 ascompensation

20.Pahad (relief camp, Mehemdabad)2 March: Following a meeting a small moblaunched an attack on the few Muslim houses.The Muslims escaped. The mob looted andburnt shops and looted houses.

21.Sadra (relief camp, Mehemdabad) : Solehouse of a daily wage labourer, two cycles,utensils were looted. No FIR filed.

22.Vaso (relief camp, Matar)2 March: At 12 noon a mob came from outsidethe village, and was helped by Hindu villagersto attack the Muslims. The Muslims ran forshelter in the wheat fields. All the houses wererazed to the ground and all property looted.One person who returned was ordered to goaway.

Mahesana

23.Aanundara, (relief camp, Kadi & Nandasan) There were 95 Muslim houses out of over2000 houses in the village. On 28 March theywere informed by the Patels that attack wouldoccur. Attack occurred at night, all the housesand a masjid were burnt. Complaint was filedwith names of the attackers. FIR also was filed.But no arrests have been made.

24.Chandkheda (relief camp, Nandasan)28 February : about 10.30-11a.m. tola cameand burnt two houses. Muslims ran away invehicles. 5-6 children left behind. Went backand collected them, despite a tola of 2000 atsome distance.

25.Khatraj (relief camp, Nandasan)There were 45 Muslim households and 500Hindu households. A hotel at the highway nearthe village was attacked by the mob on 3March. So the Muslims (all casual labourers)left for Nandasan camp because of fear andhave not gone back since then.

26.Leach (relief camp, Mandali)Attacked on 28 Feb and 1 March, six out ofeight houses, one flour mill, 4-5 shops wereburnt. No FIR filed.

27.Meda Adraj (relief camp, Kadi)1 March: A mob of 500 comprising villageHindus and those from 5 neighbouring villagesattacked the village. The Muslim houses wereattacked, and 2 persons, Kallu Mian ImamMian and Hasina were hacked and burnt. Thepolice arrived and fired, killing 3 of theattackers. Several accused were named in theFIR. 14 were in custody when we went, and 10were absconding.

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28.Paliyar (relief camp, Nandasan)28 February : 7—80 persons armed withtalwar, dharia, spears looted and burnt twohouses. 4-5 persons attacked ChandmianMastanmian Fakir - fracture, 42 stitches.Recognizes assailants.

29.Santej (relief camp, Kadi)28 February: The household goods of the solefamily of Muslim migrant workers (from UP)living in a Hindu landlord’s house were looted.The village Rabaris brought them to thesecurity of the camp.

30.Ukadi Namwada (relief camp, Kadi)A few days after 28 February, 6 housesbelonging to Muslims were set on fire and amosque and a madrasa were demolished.Muslims given 2 hours notice to leave thevillage before the attack.

31.Veedaj (relief camp, Kadi)During the Gujarat and Bharat Bandh days theMuslim owned Rajvansh hotel nearby waslooted and a dargah of Rajya Peer near thisvillage were destroyed. Only one Muslimfamily in the village, which was brought to thecamp for security by the police.

Panchmahals

32.Allindra (relief camp, Kalol)Manje-Pir -Dargah: Mohabbat Shah YusufShah Diwan is at the Dargah and has a housenext to it. He is also a Vaidya. Past six monthsHindus stopped coming to him. On 28.2.2002,100-150 persons attacked , including his nextdoor neighbour’ son Vikrambhai ParbatbhaiSingh and Ranchodbhai ST conductor, andburnt the dargah and house.

33.Athambda (relief camp, Kalol)Mustaf Yusuf Sheikh, tempo driver atPanchmahal Diary. Had gone to collect milk indehat. He was burnt to death along with thetempo. His conductor Kiranbhai Baria residentof Athambda knows the names of the killers.Leaves behind mother, wife and two daughters-21/2 and six months old. FIR at P.S. Kalol.

34.Derol Railway Station Village, (relief camp,Kalol)

On 27 February night 200-300 strong mob ofBajrang Dal, VHP took out rally, burnt a sawmill owned by a Muslim. On 28 Feb. a 700strong crowd attacked, killing 4 persons indifferent incidents in same village. Settimberyard and Muslim houses and shops onfire. Police came during attack, but went backwithout intervening. Recorded as part ofcombined FIR in Kalol P.S. No names ofaccused noted in it though eyewitnessesrecognise many.

35.Divda Colony (relief camp, Santrampur)1 March: At 12.45 p.m. an abusive armedHindu mob of 100-150 surrounded the house ofMohd. Hanif Abdul Rahim Shaikh. They setfire to the house with 7 people inside it. Whenthey came out the mob hit Maqsud, s/o Mohd.Shaikh and burnt him alive while the rest of thefamily was able to hide. The local policearrived at 2.05 p.m. and drove away the victimsas well as the attackers. Two shops owned bythe victim was also looted and burnt. Mohd.Hanif Shaikh got an FIR registered naming theaccused. No action has been taken in the caseand the investigation has not proceeded. Hanifis being pressurised to withdraw his complaint.

36.Kalol, (relief camp, Kalol)28 February: 15-20 policemen including SI RJPatil fired at Muslims near Rabbani Masjid inKalol town. Irfan Yusuf who had come fornamaz was injured. He was taken to hospitalwhere he was lynched by a mob of 100 people,recognised by eyewitnesses. Incident part ofcombined FIR in Kalol P.S (36/2002).

37.Khanpur (relief camp, Lunawada)1 March: 2500 people collected at 10 p.m. atone end of Khanpur attacked a Muslim diesel-petrol shop, and other Muslim owned shops inthe market. Then they killed retiredheadmaster, old Husainbhai with arrows. Themob also burnt, looted 40 houses. Ironically,one of the victims whose house was destroyedwas Sanskrit teacher Mohd. Ilyasbhai, who haswon the Vrihad Gujarat Sanskrit Parishadaward for the Best Sanskrit Teacher the last twotimes.

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38.Malav (relief camp, Kalol)28 February: At about 4 p.m. a mob of about100 attacked the village with 36 muslimhouseholds. 6 cabins/kiosks were burnt andhouses were looted and the mosque attackedand broken. 17 people were named by victimsin complaint letter dated 15/3/2001 given bythem to the DSP.

39.Malwan, (relief camp, Santrampur)28 February: A rally of about 250 Hindusshouting slogans went around the village wherethere were about 45 Muslim households. Alarge mob came at about 7 p.m., and broke themaulana’s house, the madrasa and one morehouse belonging to a Muslim. The mob cameback again on 1 March at about 4 p.m. andlooted and burnt 12 Muslim houses. All theMuslims in the village ran away to the hillsaround the village. They sought policeprotection on 2 March and were brought toSantrampur in a vehicle sent by the GhanchiPanch which learnt of their plight. An FIR hasbeen lodged. 16 accused have been named bythe victims in their statements.

40.Mota Sandia (relief camp, Santrampur)27th, 28th February and 1st March nothinghappened.On 2nd March a mob of about 3000 armed withguns, dharias, talwars and lathis attacked andlooted. The Muslims ran and took shelter withadivasi houses. After the looting, the mob cameand threatened the adivasis. We stayed 3 dayswith the adivasis. Fourth day the army rescuedus and brought us to the relief camp.

41.Santrampur (relief camp, Santrampur)28 February: At about 9.30 p.m. about 150armed Hindus with licensed guns, swords etc.(recognised by the victims) attacked the Santarea of Santrampur. Two brothers (Rasul andHakim Husain Ramzani) were hacked withswords when they came out with sticks toprotect their houses, and one of them had to gothrough an operation and prolonged treatmentat Baroda. The mob then left. A large mob of2500 came the next day on tempos and tractors.The Muslims all ran away, and the mob burntthe houses, a mosque, 1 madrasa and 2 dargahs.

Some of the members of the mob wererecognised by the victims.

Patan

42.Chanasma (relief camp, Nandasan)28 February: At 2 pm Bajrang Dal meeting inthe village to plan which shops, houses toattack, burn. On 1 March, 400-500 personscame to Indira Nagar at 8 a.m., ran away whenthe police came. At 11 a.m. they came again ina larger mob of about 2000 persons, looted anddestroyed houses, destroyed Masjid and burntit. Muslims escaped to the fields. 65 year oldwoman Jaanbai was burnt to death by the mob.The mob discovered the Muslims as they werehiding in the Harijan houses, and sprinkledpetrol on them and was just about to set themon fire when the police arrived and rescuedthem.

43.Khorsam (relief camp, Kadi)28 February: As villages around Khorsam werebeing attacked the villagers ran away to thecamp out of fear of attack.

Sabarkantha

44.Andkhol, (relief camp, Panpur)5 Muslims from Kachh used to work asagricultural labourers. 3 of them were killedand 2 are missing.

45.Chandap (relief camp, Panpur)1 March: Mob of 2000 carrying swords, dhariascame at about 6 p.m. and started attacking themuslim houses. They broke and destroyed thehouses and the mosque. The houses of themuslims were later burnt. All muslim ownedshops were looted and burnt.

46.Hadmatiya, (relief camp, Panpur)On 27 Feb. 4 persons came and started a firewhich was doused. The Muslims ran away tothe Harijan mohalla, and returned on 28 Feb.Around 6-7 p.m. about 5000 people came in 5tolas. Mostly Kachhi patels shouting ‘Miyabhai ko maar daalo!’ The Muslim ran away tothe forest, stayed there for 3 days, Darbars andHarijans helped them till they were rescued 3days later. 50 Muslim houses were burnt andalso cattle.

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47.Modasa, (relief camp, Modasa)In the GIDC Hazira Vistar area located in aHindu area of Modasa mobs started blastingMuslim owned factories using detonators. Thiscontinued for 3 days till 2 March, even thoughcurfew had been imposed on 28 Feb. itself.80% of the establishments in the GIDC area inModasa are Muslim owned. On 19 March,there was a police firing in which 3 Muslimswere killed and 9 injured. On 4 April one truckand one tempo (Muslim owned) were burnt and2 Muslim drivers were stabbed and 1 died.There was a police firing again and 1 Muslimdied.

48.Panchkuada (relief camp, Kadi)Though Muslims in other villages in Dhansurataluka were severely attacked after 27February, Muslims in Panchkuada wererelatively secure, as the village Hindus hadoffered them protection. However for onemonth after the Dhansura attacks, rumours keptcirculating that an attack was imminent. On 27March, before Holi, fearing an attack, the PItold them to leave for a more secure place, dueto the possibility of attack by Hindus. Theirhouses were attacked after they left.

49.Prantij (officials and people in Prantij)28 February: An armed mob from neighbouringvillages gathered and attacked the shops ofMuslims. A few shops of Hindus were alsoburnt. In the Indira Nagar area two and a halfkm away from Prantij 15 houses were burntand 1 Muslim murdered. 1200 Muslims fromIndira Nagar and surrounding villages arestaying in a camp in Prantij due to a continuingsense of insecurity.

50.Raigarh, (relief camp, Panpur)On 28 Feb. a meeting was held at 3.30 pmwhere it was decided to attack the Muslims atnight. At 7.45 p.m. about 300-400 strong moblooted and burnt 10-12 shops. On 1 Marchthere was a meeting at 9 am and at 9.45 amthey started burning the remaining Muslimshops. The Muslims ran away and about 9 kmaway Darbars of Shajapur, Bhiloda helpedthem.

51.Salal (relief camp, Panpur)28 February: Armed mob of 2000 from Salaland neighbouring villages came and startedattacking the Muslims, looting the houses,breaking and destroying the mosque. Theywere given shelter in a rice mill and a Darbar’shouse in the village. The attackers burned theMuslim houses. The police came at 7 a.m. andbrought them to the camp. They later learnt thatone woman Zubeidaben Walibhai Memon whocould not escape was burnt to death. Her bodywas recognised by the jewellery she waswearing.

52.Vadagam (relief camp, Panpur)On 27 Feb. about 250-300 strong mob cameand burnt 2 wooden stalls, one Maruti and onejeep. The Muslims were rescued by the DSP.On 22 March a meeting of Kachhi patels tookplace at 1.45 p.m. and a 4000 strong mobarmed with swords, dharia, trishuls and gunsattacked village Muslims. The police said thatthey could not protect them. The sarpancharranged for them to reach camps.

53.Vaniyad (relief camp, Modasa)On 28 February and 1 March the village wasattacked by a mob and the 15 odd Muslimfamilies were on the run. 55 year oldKankroliya Dawoodbhai Rasulbhai andSulemanbhai Rasulbhai who lived on their farmabout one and a half km away were killed bythe mob on 1 March and their bodies throwninto a well. The police discovered the bodieswhen they floated up on 5 March.

Annexure 2

List of Accused inIncidents Described in Chapter 2

Following are the lists of names of the accused indifferent incidents as identified by the victims.Some of the names figure in various FIRs filed,some are there in the complaints sent by thevictims to various authorities and some figure inthe eyewitness accounts.

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VILLAGE PANDARWADAJasubhai Patel - Taluka up-pramukhAnilbhai Manubhai Modi - Sarpanch.Dr. Kodarbhai PrajapatiMansukhbhai PatelAmrutlal Manilal Panchal - gramsevakRajni Manilal PanchalAmbalal Parshottam Pandya - ex sarpanchRaman Pitamber Joshi (Kalkatti)Sanjay MamaSana Jesingh DamoreMehta Pravinchandra ManilalDamor Soma Puja, district delegate of BJPJayanti Manilal BarotMahendra Vakil

VILLAGE ANJANWA1. Raisingh Pula Baria2. Kalu Somabhai3. Salam Abha Baria4. Roopa Soma Sehlot5. Balvant Jiva Baria6. Dalia Jetha Baria7. Dashrath Vaja Damore8. Ratna Kalu Vaghad9. Rama Kalu baria10. Babu Jeeva Baria11. Mahesh Parshottam Bhoi12. Fata Rupa Baria13. Uda Jeeva Baria14. Parvat Jeeva Baria15. Kalu Shana Baria (Veni village)16. Deputy Sarpanch (Veni)17. Bhathi Kal Damore (Veni)18. Shana Anada Baria (Vankadi)19. Kalu shana Baria (Godhar)20. Ramsingh Punja Damore (Veni)21. Bharat Punja Damore (Veni)22. Dhana Rupa Shelat (Anjanwa)23. Kalu Jyoti Damore (Veni)24. Prvat Raisingh Khant (Veni)25. Hardeepsinh Jadav (Metral)26. Babu Pandore (Vena)27. Khatra Moti Nayak (Vena)

VILLAGE DELOLThose who led the mob in Delol on 1/3/2002 were:Ashok Patel alias ‘Don’ ( Ramnath village)

Prabhasingh Chouhan ( Mehlol village, BJP MLA)Pravin s/o Prabha Singh ChauhanAnother son of PrabhasinghJeetubhai Ramanlal Shah of Delol

Those who attacked Yusufbhai’s family in Delolvillage on 1/3/01, followed them to the bus-standand killed them near the river GomaSanjay Kumar Navnitlal Bhatt, Govt. servantKirit Bhikhalal ParikhRathod Jhinhabhai BalvantbhaiShambhubhai Patel (of Kandej village)Shah Jitendra RamanlalNeerav patel (Ramnath village)Rakshit Patel (Ramnath village)Ashok Don (Ramnath village)Several others from Ramnath, Kandej, Bedia,Khadki, Nesda, Ghoda, Harkundi,Himmatpura,Jhankaripura,Harsalia and othernearby villages were recognised by eyewitnesses.

AMBIKA SOCIETY, KALOLNames of people who attacked the tempo andkilled and burnt fourteen people:Sheetal Patel - Peoples Bank ClerkJ.P.Shah - Peoples Bank Manager, KalolJaggubhai - Vijay Talkies OwnerVijay Thakur - Khodiyar Pan Centre owner.Two persons have been arrested in connection withthe tempo attack: Sailesh Kumar Ambala andRamesh Kumar Parmar u/s 143, 147, 148, 149,195, 435, 436, 302, 427, 323, 504, 506/2, 153(A),295.

VILLAGE ERALSeveral named accused of looting and attackinghouses, and some named for murdering 7 of afamily, and raping at least 2 women.Narendra Singh ChandulalRajendra Vitthal, tehsildarBailalbhai Maganbhai ParmarIndravadan Ambalal Patel - arrested u/s 302 IPCKanubhai Bharatbhai ParmarGanpat VithalPasshotam GordhanMahesh Chandra Singh ParmarBhai Lal MaganShiva Shah

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Raju Vithal – TaladiDinesh Chandu VithalRameshbhai Mani BaiaChandra Singh Ram Singh ParmarShiva Shabi ParmarJitu ParmarMahendra Sema BariaJaswantArjun Singh Ram Singh ParmarSubhash Bhim Singh ParmarParvatman Mangal ParmarRajendraVitthal ParmarJayanti PamarAshok Chatra Singh ParmarBhailal Bhagan BariaArvind VithalBJP president Kalol TehsilVikram Vaichak

VILLAGE BORUThe persons from the villages of Boru ki Muvadi,Boru, Bakrol and Bhatroli Bujurg named byeyewitnessesFatai Singh Haribhai Solanki (Boru ki Muvadi)Shankarbhai Chandabhai Solanki(Boru ki Muvadi)Balwant Singh Shanabhai Solanki (Boru kiMuvadi)Madhav Singh Shanabhai Solanki (Boru kiMuvadi)Sakrabhai Motibhai Bhoi (Bakrol)Chatra Singh Shana SolankiDinkar Lal Shankar Lal PanchalRama Daji Baria (Bhatroli Bujarg village)Chandra Singh Vajbhai Solanki (Boru ki Muvadi)Arjun Singh Vakat Singh Chauhan (Boru kiMuvadi)Chiman Valand (Boru ki Muvadi )Ramanbhai Ramabhai Baria (Boru ki Muvadi)villageHasmukhbhai Mistry - From Boru ki MuvadivillageChatra Singh Khatubhai - from Boru villagePramodbhai Prabhat Barot - from Boru villageSanabhai Fakir Bariya- from Boru villageDinu Shankar Panchal - from Boru villageYadu Kumar Navneetlal Vyas - from Boru villageMahendra Singh Soma (Solanki) - from Boruvillage

Vikram Singh Soma (Solanki) (Boru )Bhartbhai Chaturbhai Baria (Boru)

VILLAGE RANDHIKPURRajubhai Naranbhai LavarPankaj LavarKaran Jesingh VanjaraMukesh Jesingh VanjaraKesar KhimaRaju Chhagna HarijanLala Akhamb RavalGopal Babubhai Vania, of RSSBharatbhai Navi of Limkheda, of RSSKamlesh Purushottam VaniaUmesh Purushottam VaniaShailesh Bhatt, ex SarpanchNitesh BhattRaju SoniPradip MoriaVijay MoriaLala DoctorLal Vakil

Accused of rape of Bilkees1 Jaswant Nai2 Govind Nai3 Naresh Moria - brother of Pradeep Moria

VILLAGE SANJELIDigvijay Singh Chauhan (Bajrang Dal)Mukesh kumar Nand Kishore Purohit ( VHP)Jagdish Premchand Jain (Bajrang Dal)Ramchandra Ghanshyam AggrawalDalsukh Bhur SinghVijay Singh DalpatHarshad Kumar Premchand Jain (Bajrang Dal)Subhash Chandra Premchand JainMangelal Premchand JainSanjay Kumar Bachubhai Soni‘Ram’ (an alias) of Suliath villageNarwatbhai Dangi (Suliath)Hardeep Singh Jadav, (BJP leader, Methral)Sailesh Darji (Mora)Dr. Naveen Chandra Desai (Mora)Bipin Chandra Bhoi (Mora)Dimple Kumar Ochavlal Desai (RSS leader)Police Jamadar Rathod - Sanjeli outpostSailesh Kalubhai Raloti

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Lakhman Ramchand PrajapatiPankaj Kumar Sagarmal JainBhaktubhai Khat (village Methan)Hirabhai Jhalaiy (Vandeli)Jivabhai Damor (Mander)Vichiyabhai Sarpanch (Handi)

VILLAGE PORNatubhai Babubhai Patel (Bajrang Dal)Jayantbhai BabubhaiKantibhai BabubhaiGirishbhai Melabhai PrajapatiKalpeshbhai Melabhai PrajapatiRamanbhai Babbubhai Patel, SarpanchSumanbhai Raojibhai Patel, BJP leaderVipulbhai Pranbhai Patel, BJP leaderMakkabhai Bachhubhai PatelPrakash Ambalal KathiawadaSumibhai JayantibhaiVipulbhai GordhanbhaiPankajbhai RasiklalRaju LalbhaiVinubhai GokalbhaiKeshabhai Pashabhai Chamanbhai Pranbhai PatelSurajbhai IshwarbhaiPiyushbhai ChamanbhaiBharatbhai KeshabhaiKalpeshbhai RameshbhaiNileshbhai RameshbhaiBharatbhai ModiVinu AmbalalRamesh AmbalalSanjay ChaturbhaiKeshabhai BecharbhaiJayantibhai PareshbhaiYogeshbhai ManibhaiSureshbhai Patodi,and many others from Por, and also people fromMotera, Chandkhera, Jhundal, Ambapur, andKhoraj villages. Eyewitnesses gave a total of 95names of Patels involved in the attack.

VILLAGE ABBASANAMehtaji Diwan SangVanaji MehtajiKantuji MehtajiAtuji MehtajiDhamaji Ranuji

Maitaji Ranuji Vaghuji Diwan Sang HapajiPadhia Sureshbhai ChimanbhaiKaluji ChelsangTinaji ChelsangRajuji ChelsangSukhaji ChelsangDansang and Parvatsang (Gunjala)

VILLAGE KANIJDarbars from the village. (No specific namesavailable)

TOWN KADIRamesh Bachubhai Patel - municipal councillorBabu Bhaia Kachwala, of VHPSatish Bacchubhai PatelKadu bhai Ummed bhaiVasubhai Chaganbhai PatelRawal Laliyo TampoBharat Kr. Parsottam Das PatelKiritbhai Chaganbhai PatelDinesh Chunni LalRawal Bharatbhai KeshabhaiRawal AshokAmrit alias Dada PatelPatel Amrut LalRawal Tikabhai Nabhabhai PatelRawal Dilipbhai RameshbhaiRawal Vijaybhai Chatur bhaiRawal Babubhai BhakrabhaiRawal Bharatbhai BaldevbhaiRawal Bharatbhai RamabhaiRawal Amrit bhai Kanti bhaiRawal Kantibhai GobindbhaiRawal Ramesbhai DhualabhaiRawal Rohitbhai RameshbhaiRawal Kammbhai RameshbhaiRawal Kantabhai ShakrabhaiRawal Vasubhai ChaganbhaiKhodabhai Kantibhai PatelRajubhai Kantibhai PatelRajubhai Becharbhai PatelValand Maherhai alias JethabhaiBhagwanbhai SindhiNarendrabhai Barot

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Barot Narendrabhai Pannubhai – municipalconcillorBarot Kiritbhai RanhodbhaiBarot Narendra LaljiPatel Rajubhai BechaldasRawal Rayabhai MangalbhaiPatel Dineshbhai Pushottam Dasand over 86 others

VILLAGE SARDARPURAAccused28 persons named in FIR. Specific names notavailable

VILLAGE VISNAGARPrahladbhai Mohan Lal Patel Ghosa - MLADaya PurushottamBabubhai PurushottamRamesh Daya MadhabarVilat bhi Ghosa Patel- BJP dhara sabhyaNarayan Bhai Lallu Bhai Patel -BJP dhara sabhya,of village UnjhaAnupji ChandujiMahendra Topa PatelRamesh PatelRajput Shivaji AmbujiJitaji ChandujiChaturji KuwarjiBhaiji Amthaji RajputRamesh PrajapatiParthiji AmthjiJitaji KanajiJhilaji Kanaji

VILLAGE KIDIYADEyewitnesses and survivors from the second tempo(No. GJ 9T 6439) fleeing from Kidiyad recognizedsome of the attackers at Limbadiya ChowkriMahku Singh Moti Singh-contractor of KhanpurArvind Singh Ranjit Singh- of IsrodKapil Dev - owner of a milk vanBabubhai Chamar - of Jetpur near VadagamNareshbhai - of Gogawada

VILLAGE MALAV TALUK KALOL DIST.PANCH MAHALRasik Munubhai PatelMahendra Bachubhai Patel

Sanjay Ishwarbhai PatelParimal Chotabhai PatelJitu Bachubhai PatelRaju Ishwarbhai PatelDilip Babubhai ShahHarman Shanabhai DairywalaUllas Dahyabhai DairywalaBhola Shakrabhai BariaBhola Jethabhai BariaTakurbhai WeldingwalaDanjibhai SalatMukund Ochavlal ShahVirkabhai Zokhambhai BharwadDineshbhai Kishorbhai PatelMayur Purushottmbhai Patel

Annexure 3Discrepancies in the official records and

the actual number of people killed

The official figure of the dead in Gujarat carnage isan underestimate of the actual number of peoplekilled. This underestimation is because of seriousdiscrepancies in official record of the dead and theactual number of those killed.Even in our limited fact finding we came acrossseveral examples of such discrepancies.For instance, sixty seven people of village Kidiyad,district Sabarkantha were killed, when attacked atLimbdiya Chowkri while trying to escape in thetempo (Tempo No. GJ 9T 6439 Tempo 407).Names of those killed have been communicated tothe police by the survivors and are given below.However as per the official record the number ofpeople killed in this incident is just eight.1. Pathan Rasida Bibi Taju Mia(28 years)2. Pathan Talib Husain Taju Mia(6)3. Pathan Taqdir Husain Taju Mia(1)4. Sindhi Lalu Mia Gullu Mia(55)5. Sindhi Nazma Bano Lalu Mia(22)6. Sindhi Rasida Bano Lalu Mia(18)7. Sindhi Nabi Mia Lalu Mia(15)8. Sindhi Lalo Bibi Sidhu Mia(38)9. Sindhi Arif Husain Sidhu Mia(15)10. Sindhi Ashiq Husain Sidhu Mia(12)11. Sindhi Idal Mia Dalu Mia(48)

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12. Sindhi Jena Bibi Idal Mia(40)13. Sindhi Mustafa Bhai Idal Mia(20)14. Sindhi Khatun Bano Idal Mia(17)15. Sindhi Hafiza Bano Idal Mia(15)16. Sindhi Dalu Mia Ramzan Mia(80)17. Sindhi Femida Bano Mahmood Mia(18)18. Sindhi Saddam Husain Mahmood Mia(10)19. Sindhi Pinto Bhai Ayub Mia(12)20. Sindhi Lali Bibi Bacchu Mia(40)21. Sindhi Firoz Bhai Bacchu Mia(20)22. Sindhi Satu Bibi Ibrahim Mia(50)23. Sindhi Nasim Bano Iqbal Mia(8)24. Sindhi Razia Bibi Faqir Mia(50)25. Sindhi Saida Bibi Bhiqu Mia(28)26. Sindhi Ashiq Husain Bhikhu Mia(5)27. Sindhi Shabana Bano Bhikhu Mia (2)28. Sindhi Hamida Bibi Shafi Mia(27)29. Sindhi Sajid Bhai Shafi Mia(5)30. Sindhi Naseem Bano Shafi Mia(2)31. Sindhi Shabnam Bano Shafi Mia(7)32. Sindhi Tina Bano Shafi Mia(3 months)33. Sindhi Wahida Bibi Mohammad Husain(25)34. Sindhi Akbar Bhai Adam Bhai(10)35. Sindhi Sakeena Bibi Dosu Mia(75)36. Sindhi Sayeeda Bibi Basheer Mia(35)37. Sindhi Sadaam Husain Bashir Mia(12)38. Sindhi Altaf Husain Bashir Mia(8)39. Sindhi Shaheen Bano Bashir Mia(5)40. Sindhi Muskan Bano Bashir Mia(3 months)41. Sindhi Hanifa Bibi Isub Mia(30)42. Sindhi Tofiq Husain Isub Mia(7)43. Sindhi Guddi Bano Isub Mia(3)44. Sindhi Abeda Bibi Habib Mia(35)45. Sindhi Islam Bhai Habib Mia(1)46. Sindhi Hafiza Bibi Rahim Mia(30)47. Sindhi Rustam Bhai Rahim Mia(4)48. Sindhi Imran Bhai Rahim Mia(3)49. Sindhi Imtiaz Bhai Rahim Mia(6months)50. Sindhi Shamina Bano Sabbir Mia(12)51. Sindhi Mohammad Sabir Suleman Bhai(14)52. Sindhi Marium Bibi Faqir Mia(55)53. Sindhi Sadina Bano Faqir Mia(24) mentally

and physically challenged54. Sindhi Amu Bibi Juma Mia(45)55. Sindhi Hafiza Bano Juma Mia(15)56. Sindhi Ismil Mia Juma Mia(17) mentally and

physically challenged57. Sindhi Pinto Juma Mia(10)

Guests from other villages visiting Kidiyad, killedon the tempo at Limbadiya Chokdi:

58. Sindhi Iqbal Miru Mia(15) ResidenceVatavatipa Taluka Mahuda Dist. Nadiad

59. Sindhi Mohammad Husain Mannu Bhai(45)Resident of Rehman Pura, Kheralu Dist.Mehsana

60. Sindhi Mumtaz Bibi M Husain(35) - do -61. Sindhi Tina Bano Rafiq Mia(15) Residence

Vatavatipa Taluka Mahuda Dist. Nadiad62. Sindhi Firoza Bano Tazu Mia(18) Residence

Bilamana Taluka Dehgam Dist. Gandhi Nagar63. Sindhi Pirzada Guludeen Imam Mia(80)

Resident of Karanta Khanpur Dist.Panchmahal

64. Sayeed Zahir Bhai Imam Mia(36) ResidencePandarvada Khanpur Dist. .Panchmahal

65. Saiyyad Ruksana Bibi Zahir Mia(32) - do -66. Saiyyad Sabir Husain Zahir Bhai(1) - do -67. Saiyyad Ameena Bibi Imam Mia(75) -do-Similarly the official figure of those killed invillage Pandarwada, district Panchmahals, is 23,though our team managed to get names of twentynine people of the village who were killed. Besidesaccording to the survivors eight dead bodies couldnot be identified because they were burnt beyondrecognition. One dead body was found from thewell and could not be identified. This brings thetotal dead in Pandarwada to at least 38.Ayyub Habib Saiyyad (25)Abdul Abbas Saiyyad (50)Abbas Nathu Sheikh (30)Murad Mehboob Sheikh (30)An old man from Bala Sinor (Kheda District)Shaikh Bismillah Habib (20)Rahim Siddiq Ghanchi (65)Majid Abdul Sayyed(18)Shaikh Dulhanbibi Ashrafbhai (60)Shaikh Habib Ashraf (45)Sahikh Abbas Nathu (35)Shaikh Niyaz Nabi (30)Yasin Shebab Sayyed (38)Fakir Mohammaed Shaikh (40)Diwan Zabirsha Ayyubsha (30)Ghanchi Zabir Ghani (40)Shaikh Salim Shabbir (25)Ghanchi Adam Abdul (45)Multani Manu Shonkhan (55)

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Shaikh Rafik Karigar (25)Shaikh Shaheenbanu Rafik (24)Shaikh Yusuf Ahmed (30)Shaikh Zakir Dasot (22)Shaikh Mustak Fakir Mohd (18)Shaikh Javed Mustak (21)Zabirbhai Vazabhai Kharidi (32)Multan Chand Tekri (50)Rahim (10)Salim Abbas (35)The PUDR team got names of 280 people killed inthe incidents till 15 April included in section 3.These are only a few incidents of sixteen villagesand towns of Panchmahals, Ahemdabad, Kheda,Gandhinagar, and Sabarkantha districts. Thisnumber does not even include the incidents ofAhmadabad and Baroda where the number ofpeople killed is significantly higher. Also most ofthe districts of Gujarat were actually affected bythe carnage. In the light of all of this this figure of280 from 16 villages and towns indicates that theofficial figure of about 950 people killed is anunderestimation.

Annexure 4

Translation of FIR No. 36dated 1/3/2002, Kalol PS

The FIR clubs together three incidents that consti-tute separate crimes.

Kalol Police StationFIR No. 36/02IPC section 143,147,148,149,435,436,302,427,323,504,506(2) and B.P. Act 135 and IPC 153(A)and 295Time and Date of incident: 1-3-2002 during 1600hours to 2000 hours.Place of crime: Rabani Maszid, Botha Bazar andNala at the corner of Ambika Society and thecorner of GIDC, referral hospital CHL Kalol and atvillage Boru Town.Crime informed on: 2nd March 2002, 0/50,Accused: Crowd of Hindu community and crowdof muslim communityText: I, R. J. Patil, senior Police Sub Inspector,Kalol Police station, the matter of my complaint is

that following the incident that took place on 27February 2002 communal riots broke out. So inorder to maintain law and order today 1-3-02 sincemorning I and the policemen and the SRP menwere patrolling the Kalol town. At 4 o’clock nearRabbani Masjid on one hand about 5 to 6 thousandHindu men armed with sticks and dharia and on theother hand about 2000 men of muslim communitywith swords, dharia, chappa and chura and stonesconfronted one another (amne – samne) andshouted kill, hack and started throwing stones atone another. Therefore we gave instructions on themike to the crowd to disperse and told them that ifthey did not disperse, we would lathi charge them.In spite of informing them there was no effect sowe threw eight cell of tear gas. This had no effecton the crowd. We took recourse to mild lathicharge. In spite of this the crowds became uncon-trollable and attacked each other. Since we werepresent with bandobast we were forced to fire inorder to do our duty. We got order from Executivemagistrate and we fired one round in the air fromour service revolver. Even then the crowd wasuncontrollable. And this uncontrollable crowdburnt vehicles and destroyed cabins and shops andset fire to them and on the other hand the crowd ofhindu community destroyed Rabani masjid and setfire to it and destroyed cabins and shops and setfire to them and burnt thelas. In order that therewould be no more damage to life we were forcedto fire in the air so the ASI Shana Bhai Lakha Bhaifired 21 rounds from 303 and police constablePraveen Singh Amar Singh fired 29 rounds from303 and police constable Kishore Singh TakhatSingh fired seven rounds from 303 and policeconstable Udai Singh Pratap Singh fired 11 roundsfrom 303 and police constable Girish Bhai KannaBhai fired 6 rounds from 303 and police KeshanBhai Babar Bhai fired 10 rounds from 303 andcrowds of both sides dispersed. In this firing sixmen of muslim community were injured by bulletfiring whom the people of their crowd carried andran away. Of whom one man was badly injured, hewas put into a tempo and was taken to referralhospital. The crowd chased him and the compoundof the hospital burnt him along with the tempo.After that uncontrollable hindu crowd came to thecorner of Ambika Society on Godhra road and

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chased a tempo as a result the tempo driver lostcontrol and hit the nala and turned upside down inthe nala. The ten men in the tempo of the muslimcommunity were burnt alive by the crowd. Thename and addresses of these 10 muslim men arenot known and another tempo was surrounded andstopped at the GIDC corner by the crowd of peopleand burnt and damaged. After that more policemen came and the senior officer also came and hisbody guard Mathur Bhai Khatra Bhai fired tworounds with his Stan gun and threw two cell of teargas. As a result the crowd ran here and there anddispersed.Then information was received on Telephone fromBoru village that at Boru village about two thou-sand hindu men of surrounding villages hadcollected and were burning muslim houses. Soimmediately I and nayab police inspector of Haloland executive magistrate sahib and a fire fighterreached Boru village at 8pm, the crowd wereburning the houses of muslim community and thecrowd became uncontrollable so when we gavethem instructions to disperse they threw stones atthe police at which many policemen were andjanooni crowd might do a lot of damage to life so Igot an order for firing from executive magistrateand ASI Sona Bhai Puja Bhai fired two roundsfrom his service revolver and armed police consta-ble Vir Singh Man Singh fired one round andpolice constable Dalpat Singh Jai Singh fired threerounds from 303 and police constable ChimmanBhai fired 8 rounds eight rounds from303 and headconstable Jaswant Singh Aay Singh fired fourrounds from 410. The crowd ran here and thereand dispersed but the fire of the burning houses didnot come under control and the houses were burntand damaged. In this police firing no informationabout loss of life has been found. Therefore Iregistered a legal complaint against this crowd ofpeople.ComplainantR. J Patil in the presence(senior police Sub Inspector) of R.J. PatilKalol police station

Annexure 5

Socio-Economic Factsheet on Gujarat

Gujarat IndiaArea (000 km) 196 3287Population (in millions), 1991 41.3 846.3Density (person per sq.km.) 211 230Sex ratio 1991 1071 1079Urban Population 1991 34.5 25.7Villages 18,000 587,200STs as % of pop 14.9 8SCs as % of pop 7.4 16.7Literacy M 73.1 64.1Literacy F 48.6 39.1Annual per capita netnational/state domestic productat current prices (1995-96)

11,036 9321Average monthly per capita expenditurein current prices (1993-94)Rural areas 303 281Urban areas 454 458Daily per capita calorie intakeRural 1994 2153Urban 2027 2071

Gujarat India% of villages electrified 98.8 86.8Households using electricityRural 67.5 37.1Urban 89.7 82.8Registered Motor vehiclesper 1000 population (1995) 68 33% of pop covered by TV 77 84.5Birth rate 1994-96 26.4 28.1Death rate 1994-96 8 9Total fertility 1995 3.2 3.5Source: Seminar, 470, October 1998.

Annexure 6

RSS Ideology and Agenda in GujaratSince it has been in power in Gujarat, particu-

larly since 1998, the RSS/BJP government has takena number of steps to apply state power to the vic-timization of minorities. It is important to keep inmind that there is a clear ideological basis to thisagenda, and that this is the culmination of a long term

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program, which the RSS would like to apply to therest of the country. M.S. Golwalkar, who succeededHegdewar as Sarsanghchalak, or chief of the organi-sation in 1940, laid down much of its ideology in‘We or Our Nationhood Defined (1939)’:

‘The foreign races in Hindusthan must eitheradopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn torespect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, mustentertain no idea but those of the glorification of theHindu race and culture, i.e. of the Hindu nation andmust lose their separate existence to merge in theHindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly sub-ordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing,deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treat-ment – not even citizen’s rights’

Three quarters of a century later - when saffronmobs stopped Muslims and ordinary Hindus inAhmadabad at spear point and forced them to say JaiShri Ram; when the RSS stated in Bangalore that thesafety of the minorities lay in the goodwill of themajority and not in the rule of law; when Vajpayeein Goa accused Muslims everywhere of causing trou-ble and praised Hindus for ‘allowing’ minorities toworship their own gods - they were only openly im-plementing what they have been saying in their writ-ings all along.

When Hindutva mobs raped, burnt and killedMuslim women, men and children - torching themin tempos (Limbadiya Chowkri), electrocuting themin their houses (Sardarpura) massacring them in fields(Pandarwada), slitting foetuses from their mothers’wombs (Ahmadabad) – no doubt they hadGolwalkar’s dictum in mind:

‘To keep up the purity of the Race and its cul-ture, Germany shocked the world by her purging thecountry of the Semitic Races – the Jews. Race prideat its highest has been manifested here. Germany hasalso shown how well nigh impossible it is for Racesand cultures, having differences going to the root, tobe assimiliated into one united whole, a good lessonfor us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by.’

Not just ‘separate and unequal’ then, but better‘dead’.

Since 1998, a series of administrative measureshave been taken to reduce minorities to second classstatus, as a prelude to establishing a fullfledged Hindu

Rashtra. In January 2000, the Gujarat governmentremoved the ban on government servants joining theRSS, although it was later forced to retract the order.In practice, however, the RSS runs the governmentby remote and not so remote control – with the ChiefMinister himself a former RSS Pracharak, and HomeMinister Gordhan Zadaphia, a VHP leader. RSS func-tions like the sankalp shibir held at Ahmadabad inFebruary 2000 are provided with full governmentsupport, like free electricity, water and land, in sharpcontrast to the treatment meted out to organizationsof adivasis and others fighting for their economicrights, leave alone Muslims or Christians.

During BJP rule, there have been over 40 attackson Christian churches, houses, educational institu-tions and individuals by the VHP and Bajrang Dal,with the majority occurring between December 1998and January 1999 in Dangs district. In what is nowemerging as a consistent pattern of blaming the vic-tims after ostensibly coming to offer succour,Vajpayee rounded off his visit to the Dangs by call-ing for a ‘national debate on conversions.’ As was tobe expected, his speech was followed by attempts toburn down the prayer halls at Dhuda and Lahanchariavillages in the Dangs. In 1999, the Director of Police(Intelligence) sent around a letter (Ref. No. D.2:Hindu-Christi/83/99, dt.2.2.99 (1058)) to all DSPsand Police Commissioners asking for a census ofChristians and their activities. A similar circular wassent around about Muslims (D:2/2: Com/MuslimActivity/84/99 dt. 1/2.2.99).

In 1998, the BJP government set up a police cellto monitor inter-religious marriages. A number ofpamphlets authored by the VHP or the Hindu JagranManch and reproduced in mainstream Gujarati pa-pers dwell on the notion of Hindu women being ab-ducted by Muslim men. In ’98, such rumours led tocommunal riots in Randhikpur and Sanjeli in Dahoddistrict. In 2002, couples in mixed marriages havebeen singled out, and many have been forced to liveseparately.

Education is another field where the RSS con-trolled government has attempted to intervene. At-tempts were made to get all schools to subscribe tothe RSS magazine Sadhana, before the order waswithdrawn due to protest from minority educationalinstitutions. Schools have to compulsorily get their

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teachers trained in Sanskrit. In schools run by theAhmadabad Municipal Corporation exams are heldon Id. The Gujarat State board textbooks praise theAryan race and the caste system, describing the varnasystem as ‘a precious gift of the Aryans to mankind’,while Muslims, Christians and Parsees are describedas ‘foreigners’ (Social Studies, Class IX).

While urban Gujarat has traditionally had an im-age of cosmopolitanism – with women driving aroundalone on scooters late at night, and has been home toseveral national educational institutions of repute likeIIM, the National Institute of Design, and the Schoolof Architecture in Ahmadabad, or MS University inBaroda – there has been a visible growth of Shiv Senastyle Gujarati nativism, with the demand that Gujaratistudents should get first priority in these institutions.In 1998, the VHP/Bajrang Dal invaded the Schoolof Architecture, broke furniture and stabbed a malestudent. One horrified alumni told us that the rea-soning they offered for this was that “girls wore jean-pants and girls and boys talked to one another.”

As in all wars where nationalist jingoism iswhipped up, the Kargil war in 1999 became an op-portunity for anti-Muslim sloganeering and mob at-tacks leading to riots at Dariapur, Dabgarwad,Vadigam, and Kalupur in Ahmadabad.. In February2000 there were bomb attacks on the homes of Mus-lim families in Paldi area of Ahmadabad by BJPcorporators so that no Muslims would move into thearea. Everyday life under BJP/RSS rule is thus beingslowly vitiated, with every sphere – worship, mar-riage, work, education, settlement, clothes - beingsubject to attempts to keep religious communitiesapart and assign minorities secondary status.

The most glaring indication of what was to comein 2002, however, was provided by the large scaledestruction of Muslim property in 2000. The paral-lels between 2000 and 2002 are striking. In that case,the attack on Amarnath pilgrims by the Lashkar-e-Toyibba served as an occasion for the VHP to call astatewide bandh in protest, which was supported bythe BJP government. The bandh enabled the VHPand Bajrang Dal to go on the rampage, stoning anddestroying Muslim properties. Naroda road inAhmadabad was one of the places from where vio-lence started, with attacks on Muslim bakeries. Thedargah of Hajarat Sayeed Masoom Ali was burnt and

the Mujavar of the dargah beaten. Muslims from theMunicipal Labour Quarters, Naroda were forciblyevicted and shops owned by Muslims ransacked.Similar violence was witnessed in Surat, Vadodara,Modasa and other areas where Muslim businesseswere burnt, looted and destroyed. The role of BJP,VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders is clearly documented,but then, as now, the police were pressurized not toregister their names in FIRs and take no action againstthem. The 2000 violence led to significantghettoisation as Muslims moved to safer places. Thetotal Muslim property loss was estimated as over Rs.50 lakh. Hindu losses were estimated at little underRs. 4 lakh, while the damage to state property (in theform of state transport buses etc.) was about Rs. 6.5lakhs. This was apart from 13 dead and 17 injured(from both communities).

In the light of this previous and recent history ofviolence sparked by a VHP/BJP bandh, the govern-ment failure to contain the violence post Godhra, andits decision to support the bandh is completely inex-cusable. It is clear, on the contrary, that the govern-ment willed the genocide. The theory that this geno-cide was a ‘natural reaction’ and a ‘consequence’ ofwhat happened at Godhra ignores the systematicbuildup of hatred against and victimization of theminorities. Godhra was an excuse not a cause.

Sources for this section: Quami Ekta Trust, Com-munalism Combat et al, Saffron on the Rampage:Gujarat’s Muslims pay for Lashkar’s deeds, Mumbai2000; Then they came for the Christians, AIFOFDR,Mumbai, 1999; Teesta Setalvad, Situating theSaffronisation of Education. In Sahmat, The SaffronAgenda in Education, Delhi 200; M.S. Golwalkar,We or Our Nationhood Defined, Nagpur 1939; ourown factfinding.

Annexure 7

The Immediate National Context

preparations for temple construction at‘Ramjanmabhoomi’/Babri Masjid.

Several victims we spoke to in the camps inPanchmahals traced the beginnings of anti-Muslimfeelings in their villages to the 1990s Ayodhya mo-bilisation. Some of the victims from Pandarwada

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said that earlier both Hindus and Muslims used tocelebrate all their festivals, like Moharram and Garba,together at the central chowk in their village. After1992, the Hindus named this chowk AyodhyaChowk. “Now we don’t go there anymore. They sayit is their chowk.”

The violence that attended Advani’s Rath Yatrafrom Somnath in 1990, and the aftermath of the BabriMasjid demolition on December 6, 1992 as well asits consequences for Gujarat barely needs reiteration(there were more deaths in Gujarat than UP, for ex-ample). During the Kumbh Mela in January 2001,the VHP ‘Dharm Sansad’ decided that the construc-tion of a Ram temple on the site of the demolishedBabri Masjid would start on March 12 of 2002. Thedate was later shifted to March 15 as being astrologi-cally more propitious. The campaign convenientlycoincided with the UP elections and was seen as amajor factor that would help the BJP.

A Chetavani Sant Yatra (lit. Warning that HolyMen were on the move!!) left Ayodhya on January20 and reached Delhi on the 26th. At their meetingwith the Prime Minister on the 26th, the VHP de-manded 67 acres of so-called ‘undisputed land’ onwhich to begin construction – never mind that thesanctum sanctorum of the temple according to its ar-chitectural plan lies squarely on the disputed site. Inthe months preceding the March 15 deadline, groupsof kar sevaks, now calling themselves ‘Ram sevaks’began going to Ayodhya to prepare for this eventu-ality. While the BJP at the Centre made noises aboutsticking to the NDA agenda and a court verdict, sev-eral BJP MPs booked train tickets for these karevaksto go to Ayodhya on their ministerial quota. It waswhile one of these groups was returning fromAyodhya to Gujarat on February 27, that theSabarmati express was burnt, followed by a system-atic pogrom of Muslims across the state.

Even as the country watched the massacres inGujarat unfold with horror, it was simultaneouslysubject to the spectacle of an organisation doublingup as both government and extra constitutional op-position to it. The NDA government, led by Vajpayee(himself a proud Swayamsevak), asked the RSS to‘mediate’ between the BJP and the VHP (set up bythe RSS in 1964). It was then the turn of the KanchiSankracharya, who speaks for the disputing Ram

Janmabhoomi Nyas, to be asked to negotiate a ‘com-promise’ between the Nyas and the Babri MasjidAction Committee. VHP chief Singhal (and otherslike BJP President Jana Krishnamurthy, and VHPInternational President Pravin Togadia) veered be-tween saying they would accept a court verdict andinsisting that it was a matter of faith, agreeing to asymbolic yagna on the 15th and then asserting that itwould be accompanied by a movement of the pillarsto the site. As the deadline approached, the Presidentof the Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas, RamchandraParamhans threatened to commit suicide on March14 but finally let it be known that he would acceptthe symbolic donation of a stone in the area of Ramkotvillage, allegedly the village of Ram’s birth, and farenough from the disputed territory. Divisional Com-missioner Gupta who had been initially designatedto receive the stone on behalf of the government wasreplaced at the last minute by Shatrugan Singh, onthe grounds that he was a bania! The governmenthas since asked the Allahabad High Court to expe-dite hearings on the title suit.

Source for this section: daily newspapers and tel-evision for the months of January, February andMarch.

Annexure 8

A brief background to the rise ofcommunalism in Gujarat

In this section, we try to provide a brief overviewof the social and political background to the rise ofthe BJP and of communalism more generally inGujarat. The Jana Sangh, the precursor of the BJP,was set up in Gujarat in 1951. By the 1960s, the RSSand Jana Sangh were able to mobilize upper castesentiments – Rajputs, Brahmins and Vanias – culmi-nating in major riots in Ahmadabad and other partsof Gujarat in 1969. The Hindu Dharm Raksha Samitiformed in 1968 was an important catalyst for the vio-lence, and although the initiative in leading mobs andproviding money to the rioters was taken by the RSSand Jana Sangh, the Congress government in powerat the time failed to control the violence and was onoccasion, even complicit with it. The Justice JaganMohan Reddy Commission of Enquiry investigat-ing the 1969 riots in Ahmadabad remarked: “What

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could be expected from law enforcing and govern-mental agencies is a proper appreciation of the com-munal atmosphere prevailing in a state… In our viewon the facts disclosed by the government and otherrecords already referred to, the law enforcing agen-cies could not have but known that the communalatmosphere in Ahmadabad had become tense.” (seealso annexure 9).

The 1974 Nav Nirman student movement was animportant moment in the state’s political develop-ment, involving a variety of oppositional and civicforces in protest against a corrupt government. How-ever, it also gave the RSS and Jana Sangh visibilityon a broader platform with middle class appeal. Bythe time of the 1981 and 1985 anti-reservationagitations, the RSS was actively involved, and therewas an increase in upper caste Gujarati chauvinismin the guise of Gujarati asmita. Anti-reservation feel-ings shaded easily into communal tensions with ri-ots occurring across the state between 1986 and 1988.The 1989 Ramshila Pujan involving the collectionof bricks from every village, and L.K.Advani’s 1990Rath Yatra starting from Somnath led to a new lowin hate politics. The demolition of the Babri Masjidwas followed by riots all over Gujarat in 1993, withthe worst occurring in Surat. These lasted over sixmonths, claimed 200 lives and involved the mass rapeof Muslim women.

In the 1980s, Madhavsinh Solanki, JinnabhaiDarji and Sanat Mehta forged the KHAM (Kshtariya,Harijan, Adivasi, Muslim) alliance, which helped theCongress to come back to power in both 1981 and1985. Growing factionalism within the Congress andthe compromises made by Amarsinh Chaudharyhelped the BJP and RSS to gain ground. The urbanupper castes were in any case the staple base of theBJP, but through the 1980s the RSS/BJP also reachedout to OBCs like the Kolis (through ShankarsinhVaghela’s pro-BJP Kshatriya Samaj), to dalits(through the RSS front Samajik Samrasta Manchwhich promised caste equality) and adivasis (throughthe Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, the Vanvasi HinduSangam etc.). In 1990, Chimanbhai Patel took poweron a Janata Dal-BJP platform, with the Congressextending support from outside, once the BJP with-drew after Mandal. The Congress and its KHAM al-liance was by now finished.

The religious polarization created around theRamjanmabhoomi issue helped the BJP to win 20out of 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat in 1991 andsweep the Vidhan Sabha elections in both 1995 and1998. However, the BJP is as factional as the Con-gress. In 1996 Shankersinh Vaghela split from theBJP and formed the Rashtriya Janata Party. This wasreplaced by the BJP proper in 1998, with KeshubhaiPatel as chief minister. He in turn was replaced byformer RSS Pracharak Narendra Modi as Chief Min-ister.

The growing communalization of the Gujaratipolity and mind has been possible, at least in part,because of the absence of a viable left alternative.Unlike many of the other states, Gujarat has not hada strong trade union movement, in part due to thepaternalism of the old mercantile class, the Mahajans.The closure of the textile mills in Ahmadabad de-stroyed whatever fragile working class culture ex-isted.

At 15%, the percentage of adivasis in Gujarat ishigher than the national average (8%), with most ofthem living along the eastern belt. The adivasi expe-rience in Gujarat has been quite distinctive, underthe impact of a strong Gandhian tradition of socialreform. Their ashram shalas and temperance drivesin adivasi areas, coupled with Bhagat movementsand Bhajan Mandalis have created a fairly Hinduisedadivasi population. There have been some adivasistruggles in recent years, for example, for minimumwages in the 1980s, or for regularisation of cultivatedforest land in the Dangs in the 1990s, However, suchmovements or the Narmada Bachao Andolan inGujarat have found it very difficult to make them-selves heard – with the local media lining up com-pletely behind the state government against their de-mands. Efforts were made by the administration toprevent the Dangi Mazdoor Union from having meet-ings on forest rights by putting pressure on Gandhiansto deny them use of their halls, police intimidationetc. The Ambedkarite dalit movement in the state,which took the form of a militant land struggle inSaurashtra, conversion to Buddhism and the devel-opment of Dalit literature under the Dalit Panthers,was faced with the anti-reservation movement in the1980s and there have been concerted attempts sinceto co-opt them into the Hindutva fold. Given state

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repression and an overall climate of NRI funded re-ligious revivalism, the space for any kind of alterna-tive thinking has been progressively reduced.

Religious cum social expressions like PandurangAthavale’s Swadhyaya movement have also not takenstands against communalism, while many membersof the Swaminarayan sect, another major religiousbastion in Gujarat, have been found culpable in the2002 genocide. Although Gujarat is also known asthe co-operative state, with Amul and SEWA beingtouted as success stories, and there are a number ofNGOs working on natural resource management etc.,there is no reason to assume that all ‘NGOs’ are nec-essarily secular. For instance, RSS organisations likethe Bharat Sevashram and the Hindu Milan Mandirhave also been active in Gujarat since the 1970s or-ganizing Ganesh festivals and carrying out welfaremeasures among the backward castes.

Source for this section: Ghanshyam Shah, TheBJP’s Riddle in Gujarat: Caste, Factionalism andHindutva. In Thomas Blom Hansen and ChristopheJaffrelot, The BJP and the Compulsions of Politicsin India, Delhi, 1998; Essays by Harish Khare, andGhanshyam Shah and interview-conversation be-tween Rameshchandra Parmar and Ashok Chaudhari,Seminar 470, October 1998.

Annexure 9

1969 Riots in AhmadabadSome Facts:

Hindu Muslim

Damage to Property(Rs. lakh) 75.86 347.38Houses, godowns, factories,huts destroyed 671 6061Religious places destroyed: 3 93

No.of dead: 24 430Unidentified: 58

No.of displaced people: 27,750

4 government camps were set up and 7 privatecamps were set up by Muslim organizations. Therewere 20,500 victims in the government camps and7250 in the private camps.

Some of the observations of the Commission:

The figure of the dead arrived at cannot betaken as certain. Some dead bodies were burntwithout sending them to the hospital for postmortem. The maximum figure of the dead given bythe police was 660, which should be taken as theminimum.

The attacks on Muslims and Muslim propertywere planned and organized attempts. It is there-fore difficult to accept the argument of the policethat it was difficult to ascertain if the attacks werepreplanned or spontaneous.

The police, in spite of having complete infor-mation, allowed organised destruction of Muslimproperties in some incidents, without intervening tostop the attackers. The police adopted a partisanattitude in arresting mainly the minority commu-nity individuals, in comparison with Hindu rioterswhen unprecedented mobs of Hindus in thousandsattacked the lives and property of the Muslims.Among the arrested, the majority are Muslims. Inlodging complaints also, attempts were made toweaken the cases against Hindus and tighten thoseagainst Muslims.

The Public Health Joint Secretary in charge ofrelief did not visit the private camps, which hadabout 7250 victims. The Chief Minister and hiscolleagues were also hesitant to visit the camps.

There was delay in calling the army.

There was delay in imposing curfew whentrouble started. The state government later took aunilateral decision, without the permission of thearmy, to relax curfew. The state government wasslow, partisan and did not take enough action tocreate confidence in the minority community byvisiting the camps or punishing the guilty.

Some of the recommendations of the commis-sion:

At public functions no Hindu ceremoniesshould be performed.

Mohalla samities involving all communitiesshould be formed.

Radio should be used to refute rumours and forbroadcasting eminent people’s appeals for peace toreligious communities and leaders.

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A person should be given the charge of inspect-ing communal writings in newspapers and report-ing to the concerned official

Newspapers publishing communal writingsshould be banned.

Religious and political leaders must observerestraint in acts and speeches during the riots.

A Riot Commissioner, of the Brigadier levelarmy officer, be appointed for each state to coordi-nate law executing agencies so that incidents canbe viewed neutrally, practically and stern actioncan be taken.

A non-governmental organization of leaders ofall communities should be formed to assist andhelp the riot victims. All State relief should bedistributed through this organization and notthrough any political parties who would takeadvantage of the calamity.

The Special Branch should be reconstituted sothat the work of collecting information is not leftentirely on head constables, many of whom haveno subtle knowledge of discerning differences ofpolitical and social thought processes, or ofpresenting the correct picture. The Special Branchshould make a list of individuals prone to rioting,communal minded people, the goons and the anti-social elements and update it at intervals and keepa strict watch on them and not hesitate to arrestthem in time, keeping in mind the form of trouble.

There should be an increase in the number ofpolice chowkis and stations according to the needsof the area.

There should be a similar increase in the policeforce on the basis of these riots.

Each police station should be adequatelyequipped with weapons etc

A Government Secretary level, efficient officialshould be appointed to conduct an inquiry into thecommunal biases of the police. The charge againstthe police is not that they used excessive force, butthat they did not use enough force against therioters or that they were partisan in using force. Inthis case, the order for a judicial inquiry would notdiminish their morale.

The S.R.P. should be used like the B.S.F.,C.R.P. or the Army, and not like the police force.Control over it should also be examined.

The Commission should be given an independ-ent infrastructure to aasist it in collecting informa-tion and properly presenting it; or there must be atleast one advocate to assist the Commission, whowill not favour any particular agency. .

Source for this section: The report on theCommunal Riots in Ahmadabad and Other Parts ofGujarat on 18th September, 1969 and onwards.Presented to the government by Hon.Justice P.Jagan Mohan Reddy [Supreme Court], JusticeNasarvanji Vakil and Justice Akbar S. Sarela [bothjudges, Gujarat High Court] on 24 October 1970.

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COVER- 1

‘Maaro! Kaapo! Baalo!’

State, Society, and Communalism inGujarat

People’s Union for Democratic Rights

Delhi

May 2002

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COVER - 2

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COVER - 3

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COVER - 4

Published by: Secretary, Peoples Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi (PUDR)For Copies: Sharmila Purkayastha, Flat No. 5, Miranda House Staff Quarters,

Chhatra Marg, Delhi University, Delhi - 110007Printed at: Hindustan Priners, Navin Shahdara, Delhi - 110032Suggested Contribution: Rs. 10