Kheda

MEHMDAVAD
KHEDA TOWN
NADIAD
KANIJ

MEHMDAVAD

The attacks that took place in this part of Gujarat on March 1, 2002, were wide-spread and organised. The statements of villagers from Mehmdavad and Jinger Khedadistrict, said the crowds were 5-7,000 strong and attacked from three sides. Three-four leaders who were using mobile phones, hordes of people wearing saffronheadbands and the resounding echo of abusive slogans were the lasting impressionsthe attacks made on a shattered rural and small-town community.

Karim Bhai Mallick, a witness from Mehmdavad whose statement was placed beforethe Tribunal, stated that on March 1, Mehmdavad, which is a small town with a historyof communal harmony, saw violence and hatred for the first time. A Muslim majoritytownship, Mehmdavad held out bravely under prolonged attacks that carried on throughthe day. However, Sarvar Khan, a karigar (craftsman) who carved mandirs (temples)from wood, was brutally slaughtered by a mob, which also tried to attack the witness.

Nearby villages like Ghodasar and Jinger, which have 50-100 Muslim houses, sawbrutal murders and arson. In Ghodasar, 14 persons were hacked to death and therewas nobody left to pick up the corpses. Witness S. Mansoori from Mehmdavad statedthat the Darbar sarpanch of Ghodasar, Gansham Singh, saved the lives of 13-14 Mus-lims who were in danger. The maimed and gorged bodies, of persons found in thefields outside Jinger, were made public only on March 5. These 14 persons were bur-ied in nearby Jinger. In Jinger, which has a population of around 1,500 Muslims, 80per cent of whom fled the village for months. Large mobs of about 5,000 surroundedthe village and attacked the Muslims relentlessly. In Ghotas village, Hindus and Mus-lims are together even today. Haldasvar village, which had around 100 Muslim homes,faced a violent attack from the Bajrang Dal and the VHP. The Muslims managed tosave Mehmdavad kasba (small town) but the farms on the outskirts were vulnerableand three persons were killed in their homes. Two were Sayeds from the Bori RojiVista and one other. The deceased are Sarvar Khan, killed in Mehmdavad; 14 hackedto death in Ghodasar and 3 killed in Mehmdavad kasba.

Statements from residents of Mehmdavad were also placed before the Tribunal.Shafi Bhai Mansuri, ex-president of the local municipal corporation, described howMehmdavad faced an attack from three sides. The villagers were completely takenaback. The mobs carried weapons like swords, trishuls and guptis. Twenty shops werelooted and destroyed, including that of the witness. There are 9 villages in theMehmdavad area, where unfortunately, all the Muslim homes and shops were attacked.The shops and businesses belonging to Muslims in Ghotas village and Khatrad chowkiwere destroyed completely, reducing people to abject poverty.

The terrorist violence that the Bajrang Dal and the VHP unleashed left the ordinaryperson terrified. Their attack was both physical and mental. It was meant to crush thevictims. The statement of another witness, S. Mansoori, describes how there wascomplete peace in Mehmdavad after the Godhra incident. Residents even had a meet-ing of the Shanti Samiti (peace committee) on March 1. And then, as if from nowhere,they were suddenly attacked by a mob of 7-8,000. There are a total of 40 policemenavailable for Mehmdavad range and they were not enough to control the mobs, whoseleaders were consulting people on mobile phones. The idea behind the attack wasclear: destroy businesses, burn the shops and wherever there were Muslim peasants,kill them. This witness stated that, while 14 bodies had been found and buried inJinger, there were 15 to 20 persons still missing. He stated that, tremendous pressurewas put on the police and the revenue department to let the mobs do their workunhampered. But he and others were full of praise for DIG Kuldip Sharma, whoresisted the pressure.

Statements of witnesses have raised serious questions on the issue of reha-bilitation. When villages were being wiped out and entire businesses targeted,how are Muslims supposed to handle the issue? In Kani village, even the fieldsand crops belonging to Muslims had been burnt. Mansoori also gave the Tribu-nal details of his son’s plight in Vasad village in Anand district. The village isdominated by Patels and the 50 businesses belonging to Muslims there weretargeted. Dinshabhai Patel, the sarpanch, was leading the attack. The witness’son Mehmood, his wife and four children, were attacked by a mob carrying re-volvers. They managed to escape because the mob was more interested in loot-ing. The mob took away 15-20 tolas of gold. The masjid and dargah in Vasadwere destroyed using a bulldozer.

The statement of this witness records his anger at the calculated misreporting bynewspapers like Sandesh. On March 9, Sandesh published a story saying that arms werefound inside the Mehmdavad masjid. It also reported that in Daudpura area, externeecriminals were to be found. This, the witness stated, was a blatant lie. Residents ofMehmdavad themselves got the police to check the masjid, who found the story to befalse. The police said that they knew such news was being used to generate morehatred and violence. There are Hindus living all round them in Mehmdavad – Lohars,Thakurs and Parmars. The Muslim residents of Mehmdavad, a Muslim-majority vil-lage, were proud that they did not allow anything to happen to them.

The statement of Amar Singh Parmar of Mehmdavad was also placed before theTribunal. A Hindu, he said that he was awake along with everyone else, battling themobs that were trying to attack the villagers. He also asserted that there wasnever any disharmony in the city. The statement of Yusuf Sheikh, film distribu-tor, living in Mumbai, was also placed before the Tribunal. Asha Cinema inMehmdavad, which he owns, was completely destroyed, causing him a loss ofaround Rs. 20 lakh. It was thoroughly burnt from inside and the equipment andmachinery totally destroyed.

In Kheda town, Yusuf Sheikh was witness to the destruction of shops and businesses.What was most disappointing was the utter lack of response from the police to their pleas.

KHEDA TOWN

The Tribunal recorded statements of Yasin Bhai Mohammed Bhai Vora, ex-president, Kheda municipal corporation, who said that prior to this, Khedatown in Kheda district, had not seen violence in the past 60 years. At 12.30p.m. on March 1, 2002, shops in the bazaar near the Jama Masjid were de-stroyed and a rickshaw was burnt. A rice mill, two kirana (provision) shops(Lucky Trading and Ismail and Co.) belonging to Mehta Bhai Gafur Bhai wereburnt. One bakery (Gujarat Bakery), two shops belonging to Noor Mohammedand five cars belonging to Zubeidaben were also destroyed. About 150 localHindus, from the Hanuman Mandir, Balapir and Baghod areas, were the oneswho led the attack.

In Kheda town, the dargahs of Baban Shah Pir, Dawood Shah, Shikaru Pir andUtavla Pir were destroyed. The witnesses blamed the sarpanch and inspector of po-lice for inaction. The Kheda Relief Camp had about 2,000 people who had takenshelter from the villages and towns around.

Of a total population of 32,000, the Muslims in Kheda number 10,000. How-ever, it is the Muslims who dominated business activity in the town and thetotal damage they suffered as a result of the attacks amounted to Rs. 70-80lakh. For the past two years, the RSS, VHP and the Bajrang Dal had repeatedlysought to provoke the population. Sentiments were kept on the boil. At least 3-4 times a year, provocative pamphlets were circulated. In fact, the last suchpamphlet had been circulated a month before the Godhra incident. The purposewas to create hatred against Muslims. Published anonymously, the pamphletsasked every Hindu who received it to make at least 10 copies so as to keep thecirculation chain expanding.

NADIAD

In Nadiad city, in Kheda district, where two people died in police firing, there wasnot a single Muslim shop left. Fifteen or twenty shops selling TVs and other elec-tronic goods, watch shops, a bakery, a kerosene dealer and timber mart right next tothe police station and the bus stand, were destroyed on February 28, 2002. At the same time, the 25 shops selling vegetables in Santram market, belonging to Hindus,were left untouched.

The two persons who died were a maulvi, Hafiz Zuber Memon, (25) and YakubBhai Indori (22). Pankaj Bhai Vinod Bhai Patel (known as Gotya and belonging to theBJP) accompanied the police as they fired.

Those accused of mob violence in Nadiad are: The RSS, the VHP, Bajrang Dal,Pankaj Bhai Vinod Bhai Patel (BJP), sarpanch of Kheda town. The policeman in-dicted in Nadiad: IP of Kheda town, for acting at the behest of the BJP’s Pankaj BhaiVinod Bhai Patel.

KANIJ

Kanij is a 500-year-old village in Kheda district, with a population of about 10,000including 125 Muslim families. The Muslims belong mainly to the Malik and Pathancastes. Amongst the Hindus, the main castes are the Patels, Rabaris, Darbars, Harijansand Thakurs.

On March 1, 2002, at around 7.00 p.m., as the Muslims were getting ready fordinner, they were attacked by a 2,000–3,000 strong mob. All the Muslims fled tothe fields of Nainpur village situated 3-4 km away. They hid in the fields until themorning of March 3, and got food from neighbouring villagers and passers-by.When they returned, on March 3, they found 106 houses completely burnt andcompletely looted. The remaining 19 houses, built adjacent to Hindu houses, hadbeen looted but spared from arson. These were mainly some kaccha jhuggis (crudehuts) of the poor, and one three-storey house. The losses included householdgoods, agricultural implements and cattle.

An hour after they had returned, a mob collected and launched another attack onthe Muslims. Zakir Mian Rasul Mian Khokar (22) fell into the hands of the mob andwas killed, while others ran to save their lives. Once again they ran towards Nainpurand decided to proceed from there to Mehlaj. After a 6-7 km walk, they were againattacked by a mob near Shahdara village. Sakir Mian Rasool Mian Sheikh (18) andShafi Mian Mirsab Mian Shiekh (20) were surrounded by the mob and killed and theirbodies burnt. The rest found shelter in relief camps at Mehmdavad and Mehlaj.On March 19, Vikram Singh Darbar, a rich landowner of Kanij, sent tractors tobring the Muslims back to the village. Most families came back, and Vikram Singhprovided them with food for over two weeks.

Who were the attackers? The victims denied recognising any of them, main-taining they had come from other villages though independent sources have indi-cated to the Tribunal that the mob was mainly composed of people from Kanijitself. The reason for the Muslims’ silence is that most Muslims are landownersand their livelihood is tied to the village. They also have little faith that the statewill apprehend and punish those responsible for the killings and destruction. There-fore, the FIRs filed did not include the names of the attackers. Up to mid-April,no arrests had been made.

The same Darbar community, which was being praised later for their help had led theearlier attacks. The deal that victims made with the attackers included non-identifica-tion of the accused. After speaking to the victims, the Tribunal formed the definiteimpression that the new equilibrium was far from stable. How could they ever feel safeor think of living with the people who had destroyed them completely? The Tribunalalso gathered that the larger communally surcharged atmosphere was actually used tosettle village level scores. It seems that the Darbars (Rajputs) had dominated the villagepanchayat for the last 4-5 decades but in the recent panchayat elections, a Patel become asarpanch due to support from the Muslims, while a Muslim became the deputy sarpanch.The attack was aimed at teaching the Muslims a lesson.