Failure of Criminal Justice System

Updated on: 22 November 2002 12:00 am

Crime Against Humanity
Volume 2 An inquiry into the carnage in Gujarat -- Findings And Recommendations by Concerned Citizens Tribunal -Gujarat 2002

Failure of Criminal Justice System

The events that took place in Gujarat prior to the Godhra tragedy, during and afterit, and during and following the state-sponsored carnage are marked by a singular andshameful collapse of the criminal justice system.

1. Failure of Intelligence

1.1. The conduct of the police machinery in Gujarat is marked by a lack of intelli-gence about the likely commitment of offences against public order, which was notcollected from all over the state. The lack of systematic surveillance on the conductof kar sevaks going to and fro from Ayodhya, for at least a month before the Godhratragedy, especially given their recorded propensities to break the law by consistentlyprovoking religious minorities and even behaving aggressively with them, has beendealt with by the Tribunal extensively in the chapter on Godhra.

2. Preventive Arrests

2.1. The Godhra tragedy took place on the morning of February 27, 2002. TheVHP gave a call for a bandh on February 28. It was obvious that the situation wastense and could get out of hand. The minimum that the state does in similar situa-tions is to effect preventive arrests of persons who are likely to cause violence. Suchlists are available with all police stations. Such arrests are affected routinely, even ifthere is the likelihood of a minor law and order problem. Leave alone other parts ofGujarat, the preventive arrests made on February 27 in Ahmedabad itself throw alight on the intentions of the police:

Police Station	Arrests
Naroda	0
Vejalpur	0
Gomtipur	0
Kalupur	0
Shaherkotda	0
Gaekwad Haveli	0
Ellis Bridge	0
Navrangpura	0
Naranpura	0
Ghatlodia	0
Astodia	2

The two persons arrested at Astodia were both Muslims.

2.2. Section 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) permits preventive arrestsby the police. It reads: “151(1). A police officer knowing of a design to commit anycognizable offence may arrest, without orders from a magistrate and without a war-rant, the person so designing, if it appears to such officer that the offence cannot beotherwise prevented.”

2.3. Similarly section 3 of the National Security Act, 1980, allows preventive ar-rests by the central or the state government of any person likely to act in a mannerprejudicial to the maintenance of public order. The Gujarat police, by abdicating itsresponsibility in the matter of preventive arrest, revealed not just its unprofessionalcharacter and conduct. In the longer term, the failure of the law and order machineryto act and to act fairly and swiftly, often against politicians and their cadres, is reflec-tive of the symptomatic erosion that has taken place in the criminal justice system inIndia. Today it would be no exaggeration to say, in the context of Gujarat, that thecriminal justice system in India has collapsed.

3. Police Participation in the Riots

3.1. Numerous cases have come to light that have exposed the conduct of police person-nel during the Gujarat carnage. Police either turned a blind eye to the mass and systematicassaults by large mobs led by political leaders or even actually participated in the violence.

3.2. During the first 48 hours in the city of Ahmedabad, while the assaulting mobsand their leaders clearly belonged to the lumpen, communal elements from the Hinducommunity, police single-mindedly targeted innocent victims, who were, overwhelm-ingly, Muslims. On February 28, 40 persons died in police firing, out of whom 36 wereMuslims. Besides, the Tribunal has recorded evidence from all over Gujarat that showsa sinister pattern — the police, despite being present, did nothing, especially during thefirst few days, to stop the mobs. Detailed instances of police misdemeanour have beenextensively recorded by the Tribunal. It must be noted here that inaction during such asituation is punishable under section 166 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

4. Illegal Registration of FIRs (Problemswith FIRs)

4.1. Evidence from various towns and districts of Gujarat, recorded by the Tribu-nal, reveals a shocking pattern of behaviour among the police in: utheir failure to record First Information Reports (FIRs); upolice complicity in not naming the accused despite repeated insistence of thevictims/survivors that all accused should be named; uworst of all, their insistence on recording omnibus FIRs for whole areas, regionsand towns instead of separate detailed ones for every crime and offence committed. Section 154 of the CrPC deals with the First Information Report of cognisableoffences and is the first crucial step in the prosecution of offenders.

4.2. Omnibus FIRs

It is a fundamental principle of criminal law that every offence needs to be sepa-rately registered, investigated and tried. Filing omnibus FIRs is one of the simplestways of avoiding detailed investigations and effective trials. In many cases in Gujarat,where 80 or 90 shops have been burnt or a large number of people have been killed,instead of filing separate FIRs in respect of each incident, the police has registeredcollective FIRs, thus virtually scuttling the possibility of detailed investigation orconviction. Apart from this, many incidents, separated over time (sometimes days)and place and concerning different victims and accused, have been clubbed together.Moreover, when individuals came forward to lodge their FIRs, they were told that theFIRs have already been recorded, and that no second FIR was possible.

4.3. FIRs Without Names of the Accused

Most of the FIRs which have been filed, especially where the police are the infor-mants, do not contain the names of the accused and only say that an unidentifiedmob attacked. There are a significant number of cases (see Detailed Annexures, VolumeIII) where the victims actually named the accused but the Gujarat police have refusedto lodge their names in the FIRs. Instead, the police took on the role of a partisanintermediary in the evidence recorded from Naroda, Chamanpura, Ode, Sardarpura,Bharuch, Ankleshwar, Vadodara, Mehsana, Himmatnagar, Sabarkantha andBanaskantha. In these cases, the police told the complainants that the FIR would belodged only if the names of the accused were deleted. For example, at village Por, 3women and 3 children were killed. The victims have identified and named 95 attack-ers but the police refused to include their names in the FIRs. The detailed area-wiselist of incidents is covered by the Tribunal.(See section on Incidents of Violence, Volume I).

4.4. Deliberate Obfuscation of the Identity of the Accused

In a number of other cases, hundreds of victims have testified before the Tribunal, statingthat though some people have been named in the FIRs, they were not the persons actuallypresent at the site. This would not only subvert investigations by casting serious doubts onthe intentions of the complainant but would also let the real accused go scot free.Similar is the case with a number of persons who have been arrested. Due to publicpressure, some arrests had to be made. To take an easy way out, the police has, insome areas, arrested persons not at all connected with the crime and not even namedin the FIRs. This makes the case against the actual perpetrators very weak.All the above series of actions by the police are offences under section 167 of theIndian Penal Code but the Tribunal notes with shock that not a single police officerhas been charged under this section.

4.5. The police has failed to respond to the threats and intimidation meted out, as amatter of course by organisations affiliated closely to the ruling party in Gujarat--theRSS/VHP and BD. Senior jurist, Shri Girishbhai Patel was threatened in his home by young leaders of the VHP-BJP after the genocide simply because of his staunch espousal ofhuman rights issues that in recent years has meant defending minority rights at great risk tohis person. It was not the police that checked the threats and posturings but the interven-tion of Shri Arun Oza, state public prosecutor who is a senior member of the RSS.

5. Minority community victimised

5.1. Apart from targeting sections of the Muslim population with bullets, the Gujaratpolice have further blackened their conduct by indiscriminate arrests of innocent youngMuslims all over the state. The Tribunal has recorded details of these arrests and we estimatethat at least 500 innocent Muslims languish in police lock-ups and jails of the state.

6. Unprofessional investigations

6.1. Both the Godhra tragedy and the post-Godhra carnage show up the criminal justice system for tardy andloose investigations.

The police, who are the investigating agency, have simply not collected the forensic evidence in many ofthe mass crimes that took place in Gujarat.
Panchnamas have not been recorded or not recorded properly. Irregularities in search and seizureoperations are amply evident.
The list of victims and witnesses directly related to different offences has notbeen compiled.

7. Real culprits not arrested

7.1. Whether it is the Naroda Gaon, Naroda Patiya and Gulberg society mass killings orthe Sardarpura, Ode, Godasar, Pandharwada, Vishnagar, Unhava massacres, the major mas-terminds who led the mobs and co-ordinated the attacks, have not been arrested. Statecabinet ministers who have been named in FIRs are also scot free. The criminal justicesystem of Gujarat has been especially lax with those among the accused and perpetrators ofmass crimes who belong to the BJP, VHP or Bajrang Dal. Even when they have been named,these persons have not been arrested. For example, in Bhavnagar, Shri Om Trivedi, the cityVHP president and Shri Mansukh Panjwani, a city BJP office-bearer, have been named ashaving led mobs which set fire to 80 Muslim shops. Neither has been arrested.

7.2. Similarly, in Naroda Gaon in Ahmedabad, Dr. Jaideep Patel, leader of the VHPand Sushri Maya Kotdani, MLA from the BJP, have been named as perpetrators in anumber of offences. But not only have they not been arrested, they have in fact beendischarged in respect of these offences. State ministers Shri Ashok Bhatt, Shri BharatBarot, Shri Haren Pandya, Shri Narayan Laloo Patel, Shri Nitin Patel, Shri PrabhatSingh Chavan and Shri Ranjitsingh Chawda too, have escaped any criminal action.

8. No identification parades

8.1. In a number of cases, the victims could identify the perpetrators by sight asthey hailed from the neighbourhood, but did not know their names. It was essentialfor the police to conduct identification parades in such cases. But no such identifica-tion parades are known to have been conducted.

9. Combing Operations

9.1 A large number of combing operations have been carried out in Muslim locali-ties and a number of persons have been arrested. However, given who the mass of-fenders were, given the fact that it was the communal and lumpen element amongHindus who were the aggressors in the post-Godhra carnage, what was essential wasthat combing operations be carried out in non-Muslim areas. If proper combing op-erations had been carried out in these areas, a large amount of arms and ammunitionlike trishuls, swords, gas cylinders, provocative leaflets, and later on, stolen goodscould have been recovered. But interestingly, no such operations have been carriedout. Even as the combing operations were being carried out, the police resorted toindecent behaviour against women and children, the real motive being to harass andhumiliate them and to terrorise them on the pretext of searching their houses.

10. Rape Victims

10.1. Many women have been molested and raped. The investigations by variouscivil society groups, including the evidence recorded by the Tribunal, suggest that asmany as 250 young girls and women were victims of gross sexual crimes. It was in-cumbent upon the law and order machinery to facilitate speedy medical examinationsof the victims. But this was not done. Thus, there is no medical proof of rape. Sec-ondly, a number of women have complained that though they informed the policeabout rape, the FIR does not mention rape at all.

11. No Action Against Errant Media

11.1.Sandesh and Gujarat Samachar have especially played a very provocative role inthe carnage. Most fact-finding reports, including the Editors’ Guild report, have foundthem guilty of generating communal propaganda against Muslims. The police hassufficient powers under section 153 B of the Indian Penal Code to take penal actionagainst these papers. The editors and the authors could have been arrested but noteven a complaint has been lodged against them.

12. No Action Against the VHP/Bajrang Dal

12.1. It is obvious that the VHP and Bajrang Dal played a major role in the carnage.Their leaders have made highly provocative statements and have justified the car-nage. Again, they could have been arrested under section 153B of the Penal Code butthis has not been done. SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) has been banned.The VHP and Bajrang Dal could also have been banned by the state or the centralgovernment for inflaming communal passions under POTA and under the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act. But this has not happened.

13. Non-implementation of NHRC Recommendations

13.1. The Tribunal notes and records with concern the callous indifference withwhich the interim and final recommendations of the NHRC have been regarded bythe criminal justice system in Gujarat. When the National Human Rights Commis-sion, presided over by a retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, visits Gujarat, meets victims and officials and makes certain elementary recommendations, one wouldexpect that a government which is keen to bring about normalcy would at least accept theserecommendations. But even this has not been done. Police are the accused in many of thecases. NHRC, for instance, recommends that at least five such cases be handed over to theCBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) for investigation. Even this has not been done.

13.2. Even the existing provisions of Indian criminal law, if applied with stringentregard to the rule of law, could have helped ensure that the entire carnage was avoided.None of the more than 2,000 persons who died would have died if the State hadimplemented the letter of the law.

14. Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976

14.1. Under section 3 of this Act, any area within the state can be declared asDisturbed Area –

“Where a state government is satisfied that there was, or there is, in any areawithin a state extensive disturbance of the public peace and tranquility, by reason ofdifferences or disputes between members of different religious, racial, language or re-gional groups or castes or communities, it may, by notification in the official Gazette,declare such area to be a disturbed area.”

14.2. Once an area is declared as disturbed, all scheduled offences within the noti-fied area have to be tried quickly by specially designated judges. Murder and rape aresome of the scheduled offences.

14.2. If the affected areas in Gujarat had been declared as Disturbed Areas, theprosecution of the cases would have been quick and, possibly, effective.

14.3. Since section 3(2) of the Act limits any notification to incidents that havetaken place three months prior to it being issued, today this provision of law cannotbe invoked. Thus, now the opportunity under this law is lost.

15. The Prevention of Damage toPublic Property Act, 1984

15.1. Under this Act, any person who commits mischief in respect of public prop-erty can be imprisoned for a period of up to 5 years. Though a majority of the vio-lence, arson and looting has been in respect of Muslim property, there have beencertain major incidents of targeting public property. The office of the state minoritiescommission at Gandhinagar and the shrine of Wali Gujarati are two of the manyinstances of public properties, in respect of which mischief has been committed. However,to the best of our knowledge, no case under this Act has been registered against any one.

16. Status of CriminalInvestigations into Major Massacres

16.1. Partisan language in chargesheets filed by the police

The overtly partisan behaviour of the Gujarat police can be assessed from thelanguage contained in the chargesheets related to the major incidents of mass massa-cre. For instance, the chargesheet filed in the Gulberg society killings, where no lessthan 60-70 persons were brutally killed, virtually begins with a defence of the ac-cused and paints the victims as instigators.

“It was after the firing by Jafri on members of the mob (of 23,000) that the mob gotviolent and attacked the locality”. This recording of the offence is shocking to say theleast. Gulberg society was under a violent siege since 7.30 a.m. on February 28; thecommissioner of police, Shri PC Pandey visited Shri Jafri at 10.30 a.m. and assuredhim protection; the crowds grew ominously by 11.30 a.m.; and finally Shri Jafri gavehimself up to the aggressors, in order to save innocent men, women and children whohad sought shelter in his home, at 2.30 p.m.

16.2. In a similar misrepresentation, the Tribunal records with horror the way the NarodaPatiya chargesheet reads: “The unruly crowd at Naroda Patiya went on the rampage aftera mini-truck driven by a Muslim ran over a Hindu youth and the mutilated body of aHindu was recovered from the area… the crowd was anguished by the incident.”

17. Progress of Major Cases

17.1. Sardarpura massacre, Mehsana: Thirty-three persons, mostly women and children,were burnt alive in a small room in Sardarpura village in Mehsana district. In all, there are46 accused and they have been released on bail following four different applications filedbefore the additional sessions judge, Mehsana, Judge DR Shah. Four applications havealso been filed by representatives of the survivors, for cancellation of bail of the accused.The public prosecutor (PP) in the district court, Shri Dilip Trivedi, is also a general secre-tary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Mehsana district. (He gave an extremely provocativestatement on February 28 to the Sandesh daily). The four applications for cancellation ofbail are on the grounds that after being released on bail, the accused attacked a mosque inthe same Sardarpura area. (FIR no. 110/2002 dated May 13 is lodged with the Vijapurpolice station.). The PP did not take any interest in the cancellation of bail. The HighCourt has issued notices in all these four matters filed under section 439(2) of CrPC.Chargesheets have been filed. This case and the conduct of the PP reveals the clear andcriminal anti-constitutional conduct.

17.2. Deepla Darwaja, Visnagar, Mehsana district: Eleven persons were hacked orburnt to death. Thereafter, with a view to destroy the evidence, the culprits collected their remains and dumped them in a lake situated in a Patel community area.Two cancellation of bail applications have been filed against the 43 accused whowere released on bail. Predictably, the same PP (Shri Trivedi who is also generalsecretary of the district VHP) who never objects to bail applications by the VHPand the BJP, had, registered his ‘no objection’ to bail being given to the accused inthis case as well. These applications have made several pleas, the main ones beingthat the police conduct in non-registration of names of the accused, deliberatenon-recording of panchnamas and subsequent failure to help locate the victims’ bodies, all ensured that easy bail was obtained. Prima facie, there appears to be biasedpolice conduct, a patent example of culpable negligence. A special criminal application has also been made challenging the same.

17.3. Gomtipur police atrocities case, Ahmedabad: This case pertains to the death of sixpersons in reprisal killings by the police on April 21, after a police constable was killed at Danilimda. Significantly, there were no disturbances in the area on that dayand no members of the majority community reside anywhere around where the vic-tims were targeted or shot dead. The police killed Sushri Hanifabibi Bashir AhmedSheikh (42), a woman residing at Modi Chawl, for no reason. So also, Shri KalubhaiSheikh (20), male, residing at Jhoolta Minara, Ahmedi society, was shot dead. Hesuffered a head injury and died on the spot. Sushri Naziabibi and Shri MehmoodHusein Sheikh (daughter and father) aged 18 and 42 respectively residing at PatelChawl, Kamdar Maidan were similarly killed. Sushri Naziabi was cooking in the kitchen.Her father was shot at in the same incident, outside the house. Shri Abrar AhmedHanif Qureshi (22), male, was killed in the compound when the police aimed froma hole in the gate and shot him. He suffered neck injury and died on the spot.Similarly, one Shri Mehboobbhai Sultanbhai Sheikh (22) was shot after the policeentered the chawl from a private house. All the post-mortem reports show that thevictims died as a result of fire-arm injuries. Yet, no FIR has been filed. Four differ-ent applications have been filed before the Gujarat High Court on behalf of thevictims and supported by the Islamic Relief Committee, praying for special investi-gation by the crime branch and inquiry against the culprits/police constables andfor compensation. They are all pending.

17.4. Dr. Bhavnagari case, Ahmedabad: On February 28, when many areas of Ahmedabadand the state of Gujarat were being attacked, a large mob of 5-7,000 had targeted thePaldi area of Ahmedabad. Dr. Bhavnagari, a respected doctor, and his son lived inDelite Apartments at Paldi, which was also severely attacked and damaged by the mobs.Dr. Bhavnagari owns a licensed gun and is also an ace shooter, being a member of theNational Rifle Shooters’ Association. When the mob advanced close and threatened thedoctor and his family, he used his gun and fired. Two persons were injured and later, onefell victim to the bullets.

The police arrested Dr. Bhavnagari, despite there being a strong case under section76 onwards of the Indian Penal Code, which permits a person firing in self-defence whenhis life is endangered. The police also filed an FIR against both Dr. Bhavnagari and his sonon the ground that both had fired. The son surrendered to the police in late March.

Though the police met one of those who survived the bullets on March 3, theyrecorded his statement only on March 14. In his statement, the young man stated thatboth father and son had fired, in which two persons died. Applications for anticipatory bail, filed for both father and son were rejected in the City Civil and SessionsCourt, Ahmedabad. The bail applications were then pending before the Gujarat HighCourt. In its report, the police stated: “If he had not fired, he would have died. A mobof 1,500-2,000 had attacked the building; shops were burning; they had deadly weap-ons and it was only when sections of this mob climbed the staircase of Delite Apart-ments that Dr. Bhavnagari and his son fired.” When this report was filed in the Ses-sions Court, Shri Chetan Shah, advocate for the VHP (he is appearing for them in alltheir cases), asked to be joined as party. Magistrate Purani turned down the applica-tion saying that he had no locus standi. The matter for deliberation on the police reportunder section 159 was pending. Meanwhile, 90 days had passed since Dr. Bhavnagari’sarrest. Under section 167(2) of the CrPC, if no chargesheet has been filed withinthree months, a person has to be released. Both appeals for bail came up before theHC. Granting bail, the judge, Justice Behram J Sethna passed strictures against twopolice officers — additional commissioner of police Shri Satish Sharma and policeinspector Shri NH Joshi — for filing the report, which only stated the truth. It appearsthat the learned judge recommended departmental action against the police officers,which we consider as rather unwarranted.

17.5. Best Bakery Case: In the Best Bakery Case in Vadodara where 12 persons werekilled by a mob of around 1,000 people, the police have played a shocking role by bookingone Muslim, Shri Yasin Alibhai Khokhar, among others, and charging him with murder,robbery and arson.

18. Investigations into Godhra Tragedy

18.1. After the Godhra tragedy, the Gujarat police initially arrested 62 persons,including at least seven boys, all said to be under the age of 16. They were bookedunder the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) by the government railway police(GRP) for the February 27 attack on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra. Followingpublic outrage, the application of POTA to these seven boys was withdrawn. But allthe accused, including the seven boys, still faced charges of murder, attempt to mur-der, criminal conspiracy, arson, rioting and damaging public property. Family mem-bers of the arrested minors were not informed, in direct contravention of the ordersof the Supreme Court in the Joginder Singh case.

The boys are: Haroon Iqbal, FarooqKharadi, Firozkhan Pathan (residents of Signal Falia); Asif Kader, Altaf Diwan andNaseer Pathan (residents of Vejalpur Road); and Hasankhan Pathan of Dahod.

Theattitude of the police after arresting these minors was telling. The inspector of Godhratown police station, Shri K Trivedi said it was not possible to check their ages at thetime of arrest. “They were seen near the site of the incident, so we arrested them. Therest will be taken care of by the judiciary,” he said.

Hasankhan Pathan, who is a Class IX student in Dahod in the Panchmahal district,150 km. away, had come to Godhra to meet his aunt and uncle on February 26. His dateof birth according to school records is October 31, 1986. Evidence recorded by theTribunal records his relative Hussain Khan Pathan as saying: “In the morning, he wasplaying with some other local boys, including Firoz and Mustaq, when they heard ofsomething going on near the railway track. They got scared and came inside their houses.After a few hours, the police came and picked up Hasan near Ali Masjid, on charges ofmass murder.” Under the Juvenile Justice Act, minors below 16 years of age have to besent to a juvenile home, not to a police lock-up. “But they have been kept in policecustody, along with the other accused in this case. We showed the age-proof documentsof these minors to the police, but they did not listen to us,” said Shri Soukat I Samor, asenior advocate, who represents some of the accused. This is one more instance ofpolice misconduct in the context of the Godhra tragedy and the carnage that followed.

18.2. The Godhra police failed in their first major case, when additional sessions judgeViram Y Desai acquitted all 73 accused of all charges against them on September 22,2002. The judge accused the police of extracting the names of the accused from thosewho were arrested first, and the investigating officer (IO) of fabricating evidence. Heexpressed doubts over whether one of the incidents occurred at all. These findings by thejudge cast a major cloud on the conduct of the police in the Godhra investigations.Following the Godhra incident, these 73 who were arrested, were charged withconspiracy, rioting, arson, inciting communal passions, attacking the police, rob-bery, etc. All the Hindus got bail, whereas most of the Muslims (accused of burn-ing property belonging to their own community, including a mosque and school),remained in custody till the trial was over. Some of them continue to be in cus-tody on the charge of burning the train. The witnesses for the prosecution wereall policemen. The prosecutor argued that since the area was under curfew at thetime of these incidents of violence, it was difficult to find independent witnesses.Hence, the testimony of the policemen should be believed, as also the panchnamasmade on the spot by them.

18.3. The judge found that none of the charges were proved because of the con-duct of the investigating officer (IO) who first brought in a set of accused persons tothe police station, who in turn named others as co-accused, who were later arrested incombing operations. The judge held that this revealed that “there is no concrete evi-dence against the 73 accused, who were picked up out of 2,000 people.” This verdictof the Sessions Judge points out several serious lacunae in police investigations. (SeeDetailed Annexures, Volume III).

19. Medico-Legal Issues

19.1. During the post-Godhra carnage, government and municipal hospitals thatgave post-mortem reports recorded shocking lapses when detailing causes of injury inthe case of police firings. The post-mortem reports in such cases mention nothingabout injury by bullets but state that death was due to injury and shock. These lapses,we hope, were not deliberate, as otherwise it would legitimately invite the criticismthat hospitals in Gujarat are not different from other public institutions, which havebeen communalised.

20. Role of the Judiciary

20.1. The Tribunal records that the overall conduct of the judiciary, higher andlower, when in times of serious law and order breakdown and when complete anarchyprevails, is decidedly wanting. While we are clear that, as a rule, courts cannot playthe role of the legislature or the executive and take charge of the maintenance ofpublic order, there comes a time when the judiciary is looked upon as the last resort.At such times, and such moments were evident during the Gujarat carnage and re-main important to date, the judiciary is expected to rise to the full capability of itsconstitutional obligations and duties and take swift and clear suo motu action, if neces-sary, to restore the belief of the disillusioned, marginalised and alienated sections ofour population, who have been victims of state sponsored massacres. In not doing so,the courts fail in their primary duty. We state with regret that the casualness withwhich matters relating to the Gujarat carnage have been handled by the court(s), highand low, is a matter of serious concern for the rule of law and the survival of consti-tutional principles in any real sense in this country. Even open acts of threat, againsttwo high court judges belonging to the minority community, did not stir the highjudiciary into any action against the government. This is a sad reflection on the judi-ciary, which in the past, had considered the slapping of a magistrate a sufficientenough reason to invoke the contempt jurisdiction of the Apex Court!

The evidenceshows that the investigation process was totally inactive, in that,

There was no recording of complaints made by affected persons, even whilethe incidents were taking place.
FIRs were recorded after several days.
Even the recorded FIRs contained incorrect versions and not the versions asreported by the complainants.
The names of the culprits, even when disclosed, were not recorded.
In fact, the complainants were told not to name the accused, otherwise thecomplaints would not be recorded.
The FIRs of individual victims were not recorded and omnibus complaintscontaining several incidents were recorded, which would deny proper investigation and stall the delivery of criminal justice.
In many cases, the panchnamas of the scenes of offence have not been made. The forensicevidence has not been collected.
The leaders of the mob violence have not yet been arrested.
The police participated in the violence and, in spite of clear and well-documented evidence against thepolice, no policeman has been prosecuted or proceeded against otherwise.
Search and seizure of weapons and looted material have not been effected at all, despite direct evidenceof armed mobs committing the crimes.
Most of the prosecutors who are in charge of these cases owe allegiance to theorganisations perpetrating the crimes, with the result that the victims have no confidence in the due process of law.

From the evidence recorded, many persons, politicians and officials among others,have been repeatedly mentioned by witnesses, as directly taking part and inflictingviolence on innocent victims and also leading the mobs