Crime Against Humanity
Volume I An inquiry into the carnage in Gujarat
List of Incidents and Evidence
By Concerned Citizens Tribunal -Gujarat 2002
Incidents of Post-Godhra Violence
Dahod
Dahod is close to Panchmahal district where Godhra is located. Bifurcated fromthe Panchmahal district, and close to the Rajasthan border, this district experiencedacute violence and killings during the post-Godhra carnage. The first attack began onFebruary 28, 2002 itself, the day after the Godhra tragedy, suggesting levels of pre-planning before the attacks took place. The destruction of property was so focusedthat it leaves no ground but to conclude that this was a pre-planned and co-ordinatedoperation carried out with military precision.
In Dahod district, the affected villages are Sanjeli, Vansia, Mandli, Kakreli, Picchoda,Anika (Jhalod taluka) and Dungarpur (Limkheda taluka.) Every single household andbusiness establishment belonging to the Muslim community was looted and burnt invillages such as Sanjeli, Sukhsar, Piplod and Fatehpura.
Sanjeli has the largest number of Muslim households, (there are 89 Bohra houses inSanjeli alone), with 311 families occupying 400 houses. Amongst the Ghanchi com-munity, there were 1,921 affected persons from Sanjeli alone.
On the first day, the attacks were aimed at Muslim properties located either inHindu-dominated areas like the market places or on the village outskirts. This initialforay was a mere warning of things to come — a build-up to what was to follow. Notmuch damage was done that day, and the mobs were not large. The same day, Hinduhouses in Muslim bastis were marked with saffron flags or pictures of Ram andHanuman or with crosses. Significantly, some places reported that this marking wasdone a few days before February 27.
In most places, the attacks started in the afternoon of March 1, 2002. For threedays, Muslims were forced to flee, leaving everything behind. In every village theyfirst tried to take refuge in the masjid or the few concrete houses that belonged toMuslims, but in many places, these were attacked and set on fire. Most people man-aged to flee in vehicles or on foot but in every case they were chased and attacked.Trees were felled to obstruct those fleeing from the clutches of frenzied, armed mobs.Although some managed to reach “safer places”, many were caught by the mobs,and dismembered, murdered and burnt alive. Women were stripped, and physicallyand sexually assaulted. Some of the dead bodies have not been found. Some peoplewere killed or died while fleeing and were finally buried only when a “safe” place forthe living, and the dead, was found.
In Randhikpur village, Singvad post, there were 71 houses belonging to the Muslimcommunity, in addition to which there were 14 grocery shops, paan and various otherMuslim owned businesses. There is a mosque and a madrassa in the village. On thenight of February 28, 2002, at around 2 a.m., a mob of around 400-500 people, led bythe below-mentioned accused, targeted this section with cans of petrol and diesel.They first looted and then burnt four Muslim houses. The mob returned around 8a.m. the next morning, with lethal weapons and material to carry on looting and burn-ing. In addition, they also torched the mosque and the madrassa.
The crowd returned at about 10–11 a.m. on March 1, and looted and torched theremaining houses. In addition, a lot of livestock, about 200 cows, goats, bullocks etc.were stolen. These incidents were witnessed by the entire Muslim community fromafar. The FIR was sent to the SP and collector by fax.
The mob was led by the following accused: Rameshkumar R. Chandana (sarpanch);Shailesh C. Bhatt; Mitish C. Bhatt; Pradip Ramanbhai Modhia; Naresh RamanbhaiModhia; Govind Hukam Rawal; Jaswant Rawal; Gopaldas Babulal Shah; ShreepalAjablal Jain; Vikas Subhash Jain; Gopal Dama Rawal; Govind Varsing Bilwad;Radheshyam B. Shah (lawyer); Ashish B. Shah; Bhagubhai Kuvar Shah; Kesar KhimaVahomia; Rajukant Modhia (came with jeep no. 3605); Mukesh Pawar Vanjara;Umeshkumar Shah (doctor); Maukabhai Mansingh Guniji; Raju Chhagan Harijan;Shankar Chhagan Harijan; Mafat Moghilal Prajapat; Harshad Kantilal Patanwadia;Natu Dala Parmar; Bharat Raval; Dave Raju Magan Maharaj; Khicha Vahomia;Pankajkumar Naran Luhar; Ashok Naran Luhar; Raju Karan Vanjhara; MangalbhaiMogilal Prajapati; Pradyumbhai Majisaivik (came in car no. GJ-17-7-5728); GopalPrakash Modhia; Jignesh Prakash Modhia; Dilip Manalal Darji; Vijaykumar RamanlalModhia; Harish B. Shah; Manish B. Shah; Kambhai Lalit Bairyawala (tailor); Dilip K.Chandana; Kanti Kadakia Shilot; Lakshman Bhabor (Dasana); Natu DhirsinghSangada; Bharat Dhirsingh Sangada; Kambhai Master (Dasa); Padamsingh LabanaBandibarwala; Kamleshkumar Manharlal Dave; Pramukhkumar Bhagabhai Dabgar;Rajubhai Babulal Soni; Mahesh Suvalal Shah; Budhabhai Shamabahi Bilwad;Umeshkumar Gopikrishan Shah; Nileshkumar Anadilal Shah (teacher); RajeshkumarAnandilal Shah.— all named in the FIR, are residents of Randhikpur. From outsideRandhikpur there were: Jaswantbhai Patel (Chhapan Road, Limkheda taluka) came inhis car; Mahendra (driver, Chhaparwad) came in car No. GJ-17-C-2853; Narsingh,sarpanch Dhamanbhai (from outside).
Witnesses from Randhikpur who deposed before the Tribunal said that until theevening of February 28, there was no apparent tension in the village. One survivor,told the Tribunal that it was late in the evening of February 28 when the wife of Mehmoodbhai Majod started shouting to alert other Muslims because she saw thatfields had been set on fire. Muslims from the village ran to the mosque, which wasbeing attacked. Although there is a police chowki in the village, where the victims didappeal for help, the police just did not come. With no help forthcoming, the Muslimsfrom Randhikpur fled the village and escaped to a hillock close by. After hiding therefor a few hours, they walked to Chunadi village nearby, where the Congress MLA,Bijalbhai Damor lives. After a drink of water here, they then left for Kujaval village,where they took refuge on the terrace of the local mosque.
For the next three nights and four days, the Muslims lived in abject terror. Each nightthey would hide in the hills, and during the day, they would go on foot to the nextvillage, seeking water and shelter. Women and children went without water and food.Unable to take it any more, they returned to Kujaval village, where one pregnant womanwhose baby was due, gave birth to her child. Seventeen persons stayed back at thevillage with her. The rest, about 150 persons, including children (but no men) left thatnight, to go to Chunadi village where the Congress MLA lived. They appealed to him todo something for them, saying that their children would die of thirst and hunger. Theyhad gone without water and food for four days. He organised a vehicle for them ataround 4 p.m. on March 3. They first went to Limkheda, and then, four days later, on toGodhra. The witnesses had been in the Godhra relief camps ever since.
They chose not to go via Baria because, that very day, four Muslims had been killedon the road to Baria. They were hung from a tree, doused with kerosene and burnt alive,screaming. The witness’ nephew, (her brother-in-law’s 18-year-old son), a father of fiveand two other young boys were the 4 who were killed on the road to Baria.
Another witness, who was part of another group of persons fleeing from Randhikpurvillage, testified about their escape. She said that a mob started pelting them with stones,after which they torched the houses with tyres. Though two companies of police, withguns, came from Limkheda, they did not fire on the attacking mob. The Limkhedapolice told the victims to flee if they wanted to stay alive. When the police said this, andseeing how the police were allowing their homes to be burnt before their eyes, this groupof Randhikpur residents rented a tempo, and headed towards Baria. They went hungryand were without water for two days
On the way, at Hawanti, a crowd of 200 to 300 people stopped them. They werecarrying weapons like sickles, axes, swords and sticks. They stopped the tempo andwent after them. Half the persons in the crowd surrounded the witness’ 25-year-oldson, Kalu Razzak Ibrahim Shaikh, who had got separated from the others, and killedhim as the rest of his group watched. After killing him they burnt him. The witness, amother of two sons, lost one of them this way. She was then beaten up and her armwas broken. Her younger son was beaten unconscious and his backbone was broken.“I don’t know which weapon I was beaten with but my whole body was bleeding. Wewere rescued later and given water to drink.”
When the Tribunal recorded this witness’ testimony, two months after the tragedy,her misery was palpable. A widow, she had been living at the Godhra camp with her younger son, torn apart by the fact that her other son’s body had not been found, forher to perform the last rites. She said many persons were killed in this attack but theexact number was difficult to state because everyone was running helter-skelter. Shehad lost consciousness. None of the witnesses from Randhikpur had dared return tothe village until May. She had received no compensation until then.
The testimony of a 19-year-old woman, a victim of sexual assault and rape, alongwith that of her neighbour, was placed recorded by the Tribunal. Both residents ofRandhikpur, they were interviewed at the Godhra relief camp on March 22. Theywere set upon by a mob just outside the village, on the highway going towards Baria,as they were fleeing on February 28. Fourteen persons from the witness’ natal andmarital family were butchered and killed — 7 from her father’s family and 7 from herin-laws’ side. Women and young girls were raped before being killed. The witness’3½-year-old daughter was brutally killed after being swung on a sword. This witnesswas also a victim of gang rape. She survived because she was mistaken as dead, on aheap of other dead bodies. The victim was five months pregnant when she was socriminally assaulted. The family had stayed behind in Randhikpur because of theimpending delivery of her cousin.
This victim has filed an FIR: “On February 23, it being Id, I had gone to my mother’shome with my little girl. On February 27, because of the incident at Godhra railwaystation, there was tension and violence in the surrounding villages. In order to saveour lives, at about 10 o’clock on the morning of February 28, a total of 16 peoplefrom our house — I, my two sisters and two brothers, our mother, my little girl, mymaternal uncle, my paternal aunt and her husband and their daughters — leftRandhikpur for Baria on foot. When we found out that there was violence every-where, we stopped at Bijal Damor in Chuddi village. Around midnight, we went andhid in the Kujaval mosque.
“The daughter of my paternal aunt who was pregnant, gave birth to a girl there.Around 10 o’clock the next morning, we went to Khudra and stayed with Adivasis fortwo days. Two days later, early in the morning, we came to Chhaparwad. We werewalking down a kaccha road to save our lives. While passing between two hills, twovehicles came in the direction of Chhaparwad and Randhikpur with 30 to 40 people inthem. This included Shailesh Bhatt, Raju Soni, Lala doctor, Govind Nana, JaswantNavi, Lalo Vakil, who is the son of Bhagu Kuverji and Kesar Khima, Baka KhimaVasava. All of them are from Randhikpur so we recognised them. The others were fromChhaparwad, whose names we did not know, but whom I would recognise if I see them.“All had lethal weapons in their hands — swords, spears, scythes, sticks, daggers, bowsand arrows. They started screaming, ‘Kill them, Cut them up!’ They raped my two sistersand me and behaved in an inhuman way with my uncle and aunt’s daughters. They tore ourclothes and raped 8 of us. Before my very eyes they killed my 3½-year-old daughter.“The people who raped me are Shailesh Bhatt, Lala doctor, Lalo Vakil and GovindNana, all of whom I know very well. After raping me, they beat me up. Having beeninjured in the head, I fainted. They left, assuming I was dead.
“After two to three hours, when I regained consciousness, on seeing the corpses ofmy family members, I was terrified. I climbed a hill and stayed there all night.In the morning, when the police came to know about this attack, they came to takethe corpses and found me alive. My clothes were torn so they brought me some clothesfrom the house of an Adivasi staying at the foot of the hill. Then they brought me toLimkheda and from there I was brought to the relief camp at Godhra.
“The above-mentioned people raped my deceased sisters and me, as well as thedaughters of my maternal uncle and my paternal aunt. They killed all the peopleexcept myself. For all these reasons I say that legal action should be taken against theabove-mentioned people.”
The accused are Shailesh Bhatt, Raju Soni, Lala doctor, Govind Nana, JaswantNavi, Lalo Vakil, who is the son of Bhagu Kuverji and Kesar Khima, Baka KhimaVasava (all from Randhikpur).
Sanjeli in Jhalod taluka, has a population of around 550 Hindus and about the samenumber of Muslim families. For two full days on March 1 and 2, 2002, a 10-12,000strong mob armed with swords and guns wreaked havoc in the village. Thirteen tofourteen people were butchered. The local police did nothing. 550 Muslim familiesfrom Sanjeli shifted to Dahod camp for shelter. Sanjeli was cordoned off for twowhole days. It was the Dahod DSP who took the survivors to the camp in his car. Inthe villages of Dahod, 2,500-3,000 strong mobs went on the rampage.
On February 28, there was no trouble in the village. The next day, on March 1, afterthe afternoon namaaz, the mob came and started throwing stones. They also attackedthe houses on the outskirts of the village and burnt some of them. All through thenight they created trouble outside the village.
The next day, on March 2, a large crowd, maybe 15-20,000 people, entered thevillage. They set fire to shops, houses and vehicles and attacked the Muslims. Theycarried guns, bows and arrows, dharias (sickles), swords, trishuls, and they were shout-ing slogans and hurling all kinds of abuses. The sort of slogans they shouted were,“Musalmans go to Pakistan, Hindustan is ours.”
The police did not do anything to stop the mobs. At that time, one person died inprivate firing by the mob. All over the village, the mobs had set things on fire. Thenthe SDM came and ordered a curfew in the village and talked to the villagers. TheMuslims were told to go inside their houses and, because shoot at sight orders hadbeen given, they went inside. The curfew, however, was not implemented and themob kept up the attack in the presence of the local police and Home Guards. Themobs were not dispersed or asked to leave.
Much later, the SP came and spoke to the Muslims, and said that if they wanted tobe safe, they should move to Dahod. He personally escorted them out of the villageto Dahod. Even when the Muslims were fleeing the village in vehicles, there wasstone throwing and private firing all along the way. While taking them to Dahod, the SP put his own life at risk, too. On the way, one of the vehicles had a punctured tyrenear Rayaniya village. Four people were burnt alive here. Two of these were women,who were raped and then burnt. Due to the stone throwing and the suffocation, manypeople lost their lives while fleeing.
Even after all the Muslims had left for Dahod, the destruction continued. Theyremoved all the windows and doors from Muslim houses and destroyed the housescompletely. The Hindu houses were saved because they had been marked with a crossor saffron flags that were put on them previously. To date, the local police have nottaken any action against those responsible.
After the people left the village, every house and shop was burnt and looted. All thereligious books were burnt. The masjid and madrassa were also completely destroyed.There are obscenities scratched on the walls. Inside the masjid it was written, “Hindustanis for Hindus and Muslim should go to Pakistan.” On the walls, the names of HinduGods were written. The masjid was dug up inside, all the minaras (minarets) of themasjid were broken and it had saffron flags mounted on it. There is one church inSanjeli, which was also destroyed in the same manner. It is now completely bare anda saffron flag has been mounted on top. All the surrounding trees were cut and thegarden was completely destroyed.
The VHP, Bajrang Dal and the RSS have been running membership drives in theseareas. They have opened and have been running new shakhas (cells) since 1995. Be-fore this too, in 1998, there was violence against Muslims in the villages of Sanjeliand Randhikpur. In 1998, on August 14-15, Muslims from Randhikpur and Sanjeliwere threatened, traumatised and boycotted. They had to live outside their villagesfor 2-3 months. A leaflet distributed at the time propagated the relentlessly divisivestrategy of these groups. (See Annexure 11 Hate Writing, Volume I). Fact-finding teamsfrom the PUCL and other local groups, who visited the area had also published areport of the same. There had been an incident where two Adivasi women, one ofwhom was married, had eloped with two Muslim men from Sanjeli and Randhikpur.The VHP and the Bajrang Dal used this incident to incite the local Adivasi commu-nity in these villages against the Muslim community. At that time, four years ago, thevillagers had finally returned to their houses, which were not looted or damaged in themanner that they were this year. The eloped couples were found, a police case filedand settled later.
In Sanjeli there are still some Dalit and Adivasi women who have married Muslimmen and live with their husbands. This has always angered the RSS and Bajrang Dal.This time round too, the VHP has been demanding that any Adivasi women marriedto Muslims should be handed back to their organisations. They are also demandingthat the children of the Dalit women who are married to Muslims should be handedover to them.
Evidence placed before the Tribunal records statements of Muslim residents ofSanjeli that this kind of mobilisation had been consistently going on in the villagebefore the attacks. Just three months prior to the recent attacks, for example, there were huge meetings in which the VHP and Bajrang Dal had announced that “Sanjeliwill Burn.” And burn it did.
Three months later, this town looked like some ghostly archaeological sight. In laneafter lane, all one could see were rows of houses that had been completely devastatd.There were no roofs and no walls; everything had been burnt, with not a shred of anyone’sbelongings being visible. Every house had been stripped to the ground.In one lane in the midst of these ruins, there were two Hindu houses, which hadsaffron flags fluttering and Ram and Hanuman written on them. These houses wereintact, undamaged. Even the paint on the outer walls looked untouched by the de-struction all around. If one raised one’s head to look beyond these lanes, then onesaw life going on uninterrupted in other houses.
Many women and men recounted that when they were fleeing the mobs in temposand trucks, many people were gathered alongside the road with stones and threwthem on the people in the trucks, tempos and jeeps from the surrounding hillsides.Almost all had some sort of injury, several were severely injured in these attacks andmany died in this nightmarish escape. They also recounted how not all people couldescape in vehicles so many escaped into the jungle and walked to Dahod for threedays without food and water, several with young children.
There was extensive sexual abuse of women. However, there was a great reluc-tance to talk about these incidents on the part of women victim-survivors. It was onlyalluded to in the case of women who had been killed. “Only we know and our Allahknows what we have lived through.” However, they did recount, repeatedly, how thetwo women who had been pulled out from the tempo while fleeing were raped andthen burnt.
Among the accused identified by the villagers, there are many who were also re-sponsible for the brutal attacks against Christians in 1998. The accused named hereare Dalsukhdas Maharaj, Mukesh Nandkishor Purohit, Jagdish Premchand Jain, DimpleOcchavlal Desai, Vijaysinh Dalpatsinh Raolji, Prakash Jagannath Dhobi, RamchandraGhanshyam Agrawal, Digvijaysinh M. Chauhan, Vaktabhai Salabhai Khant,Chandubhai Prajapati, Ramesh Maharaj (Nenki sarpanch), Shankar Kotha Prajapati,Bhopat Luna Prajapati, Chadiya Ghala Harijan, Prakash Shomabhai Raval, PopatSomabhai Raval (driver), Mansingh Ravat (Picchhoda), Shashikant Mahida, PardhibhaiKamabhai Marel, Dalsingh Bhagabhai Marel, Tajsingh Bhundabhai Marel, Ashok Bhoi.The residents of Sanjeli have made a consolidated written complaint and also attemptedto file individual FIRs with the police. The police made a general FIR for the village anddid not include any of the names of the accused in it. They did not register any individualFIRs and no action was taken against anybody. The police also added something in theFIR against the Muslim community, which was not there in the complaint submitted bythe residents. The police record said that some Muslim people attacked a few Adivasiswhereupon the crowd got out of control and attacked the village. No such incident hadtaken place and this was a complete fabrication. The Muslims made an affidavit correctingthis in court. All these documents were submitted to the Tribunal.
In Vasia village, there are only 12 Muslim homes amidst 200-300 homes belongingto Adivasis. On March 2, between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., a crowd of 3,000-5,000 at-tacked the Muslims and started looting but the 12 Muslim families somehow man-aged to escape. The Dahod police station has not registered an FIR.
Fatehpura and Karodia in Fatehpura taluka, are not two separate towns -they arealmost like one settlement. Together, these towns have a total population of about6,000. The Muslims in these areas did not have a separate locality as such. Theirhouses were scattered all over the town, on different roads like Ballaiya Road (alsoknown as Karodia), Ukhreli Road, Ghooghas Road, Jhalod Road, Main Bazaar, PalodFalia, Naik Wad, and Talav Falia. In all, there were about 200-250 affected Muslimfamilies from Fatehpura. When the Tribunal visited the place, some of the familieswere staying with relatives in an adjacent district of Rajasthan.
About 200 Bohra persons were also staying in separate localities in Dahod andLunavada. The total affected population from Fatehpura and Karodia, was1,920 people,including around 200 Bohra Muslims.
The violence here took place from February 28 to March 4, 2002. Four people werekilled. A 65-year-old man who was mentally ill (Mohammad Ishabhai) was burnt aliveand two others (Yusuf Mohammad and Ahmad Karim) were stabbed to death whenthey tried to intervene and prevent aggressive violence on women. The fourth deathwas that of a 3-year-old child who fell and died while people were being taken awayin an over-crowded vehicle.
At around 8.30 p.m. on February 28, a mob of Hindus from the village came to themain bazaar area near the mosque and shouted slogans and threw stones at the mosqueand at the people. Threatening slogans were also shouted.
On the evening of March 1, one house was looted and burnt and more than twovehicles were burnt and destroyed on Ukhreli Road (which is about 2 km from themain village, on the outskirts of Fatehpura). There was verbal abuse and physicalharassment of women. In Fatehpura proper, a mob from the village came and shoutedand made a lot of noise, threatened people and then went away. The identification ofHindu homes, by putting some Hanuman/Ram photographs and posters on them,took place at that time.
At 9 a.m. on March 2, curfew was clamped in the town. Witnesses say that a policepatrol car with two policemen in it drove up and asked people to go into their houses.At this point the mob was still some distance away. After this round by the policepatrol, a large mob approached. When the mob entered the village, the police wasnowhere to be seen. People’s perceptions of the size of the mob varied from 8,000 to20,000, but it was clear that the mob was large and the attackers were both from thetown and from outside.
The mob surrounded the whole town and started looting and destruction from oneend of the village. Since the houses were scattered, people ran out from there, towards the bigger, concrete houses. About 500 people took refuge in one such house inthe main bazaar. Similarly, about 100 people hid in a house on another road. Somepeople hid in the mosque until the mobs reached there and then fled to the policestation. One or two families were also sheltered for a day by an Adivasi family nearthe town. In the night they were then sent to the police station, since the family whohad sheltered them were also in danger.
The 100 people who had taken refuge in one of the houses, hid there from 9 a.m. toabout 3.30 p.m. This house was set on fire and people managed to escape only afterthey broke through the roof and came out on the roofs of neighbouring houses. Asthe women came out, many of them were stripped and harassed. It is certain that onewoman was raped. It is probable that there were more instances of rape as well butthe victims and others are reluctant to be identified or talk about it. Finally, the peoplewho got out of that house then managed to reach the police station, where they alltook refuge, on the evening of March 2.
On the same day, in another part of Fatehpura, people from around 15 households tookrefuge in a concrete house. At about 12 noon, a mob attacked them. They were sur-rounded from all sides and then the mobs entered the house. They snatched away all themoney and the jewellery, and kept up a constant spate of verbal and physical assaults onthe women, saying, “Give us all your young women and girls. We will take them.” Therewere about 30 women and 10 children, and several men as well -they kept pleading,“Please take away our money, our jewellery, our houses, but leave the women alone.”About two hours later, the women were dragged out of the house and their clotheswere stripped. The children were snatched from their hands and flung aside, as aresult of which, some of them were also injured. Then, in front of the house, and infull view of the others in the area, these women were sexually assaulted by the mob.The three men who came out to protest and intervene were killed. The other menwere also warned and told not to intervene, and were hit. This went on for 3 hours,until 6 in the evening.
Meanwhile the concrete house, which was supposed to be safe, was also set on firefrom the front and the back. Petrol was poured on the house and on the people inside aswell. People escaped by walking over burning doors as they collapsed. All of them hadsevere burn injuries. The women who had been abused were left to flee, violated, hurt,bruised and naked, and doused with petrol. There were several thousands of peoplearound. These women had been repeatedly raped and assaulted in full view of theirchildren, men, the neighbours, and the mob on the road. The police station, where allthe Muslims had fled for refuge, is almost a kilometre away from this location. Thesewomen had to walk all this distance, naked and brutalised, and no one, not even thewomen who were very much a part of the watching crowd, gave them anything withwhich to cover themselves. Trying to cover themselves with rags (chindis), some leaveson the road, whatever was available, they managed to flee to the police station.
The police station was filled to overflowing, with almost 2,000 people, and therewasn’t even enough room to sit. So most of them just stood there from the evening of March 2, to early morning on March 4. During that time, some water was given to thechildren once, but otherwise everyone just stood there without anything to eat or drink.There were 4 or 6 policemen at the station. The police did not allow them to go out anddid not try to help them in any way at all. In fact, the police said that if people did goout, then they would not be able to stop the mob from killing them. In silence, pain andterror, these people waited, standing for two days, until help arrived. The inhumantreatment suffered by the residents of Fatehpura, and the sheer inaction and indiffer-ence of the local Fatehpura police station, amounts to nothing short of criminal negli-gence of duty for which immediate action needs to be taken.
In the time that these victim-survivors were at the police station, the mob contin-ued looting and burning and destroying all the property belonging to these people.This continued for over two days and it was early on Monday (March 4) morning thatthe police escorted most of the people out of Fatehpura, crammed together in policeand other vehicles. The vehicles were overcrowded and there was barely place tostand. It was during this journey that a mother lost her grip on her 3-year-old, and thechild fell down and died.
The people were then taken to the Rajasthan border, where they were handed over tothe Rajasthan police. The child who had died was buried in Rajasthan; no post-mortemexamination was done, so no compensation was paid for the death of this child. Someof the fleeing people also had relatives in Rajasthan. It was only after they reachedRajasthan that they were given some food and water, and also received some care andattention from other people. After being deprived of it since Saturday morning, they gottheir first taste of food and water at around 3 a.m. on Monday morning.
The behaviour of the Rajasthan police contrasted sharply with the treatment metedout within Gujarat. The victim-survivors stayed in Rajasthan for ten days, until March13. The areas in Rajasthan where they were kept were: Galia Court, Gadhi, Pratapgarh,Shergah, Sajjangarh, Kalinjra, Kasarwadi, mostly in the Banswada district. They werehelped by the Rajasthan government as well as its people.
On March 13, the collector from Fatehpura came to take the victim-survivors back.The women did not want to go back to Fatehpura at all. The men agreed to go be-cause they were told that they would lose out on their land and property compensa-tion claims if they did not return. The collector also assured the people total safety.He and police officials said that they took full responsibility for their safety and thatno harm would come to them. The women were told that they were being taken toJhalod, but were then tricked and brought to the camp at Fatehpura.
Months later, there was still a huge schism between the non-Muslims and Mus-lims at Fatehpura. According to evidence before the Tribunal, the women who wereabused were being specifically targeted and were being mocked by all the others.They were also being threatened, that the same thing would be done to them allover again if they tried to go back to their houses. They did not at all feel confidentabout going back to their homes. They had not been able to go back to their mohallaat all as tension still prevails.
The majority of Muslims in Sukhsar, Fatehpura taluka belong to the Ghanchi com-munity. Prior to the beginning of this round of anti-Muslim attacks, there were 605people belonging to the Ghanchi community living in Sukhsar, with a total of 110buildings, and 70 people belonging to the Dawoodi Bohra community, with a total of14 buildings. Sukhsar had sawmills and brick making bhattis owned by Muslim people.
No communal incidents had ever occurred in Sukhsar prior to February 28, 2002.People also reported living without discrimination before. However, statements ofwitnesses did mention specifically that from 1992 onwards, the VHP and Bajrang Dalhad been distributing saffron flags at various meetings and been distributing provoca-tive (anti-Muslim) literature to surrounding areas. This affected business and the gen-eral attitude of Dalits, tribals and other working class people toward Muslims.
One month before the Godhra incident, efforts were visibly underway to instigatetribals against the ‘Muslim exploiters’ (most traders in the area were Muslims) and alsoto create a fear psychosis, warning them about an impending communal attack by Mus-lims. Under the pretext of the Godhra massacre on February 27, witnesses stated thatthe Durgavahini, Bajrang Dal and VHP had gathered Dalits and tribals at around 5 pmon February 28. They started breaking and looting shops, buildings, vehicles and thenset them on fire in the bus stand area. Muslims in the area feared attack at night.
Between February 28 and March 1, Muslim leaders made at least 300 phone calls tothe district collector, CD Rathod and the SP, Jadeja, to ask for protection. On March1, people went and personally met the mamlatdar and the police inspector. The PSIhad recently been transferred to the area. One witness claimed that this was signifi-cant, as the previous PSI would have been opposed to these attacks, and would havedone more to protect the Muslim community in the town.
On March 1, at 12.30 in the afternoon, around 5000-6000 Dalits and tribals whowere instigated against Muslims surrounded the Muslim basti, which has mostly prop-erly built cement houses and saw mills, and three entry points. The residents of thebasti were frightened by this sudden attack and asked for police protection. The policeclaimed that violence was happening all over Gujarat, “so how can we give you pro-tection?” And “We have orders from the Gujarat government not to give any kind ofprotection to Muslims.”
Muslim community members pleaded for the second time for help but local policerefused to give protection. On further persuasion, the police came to the basti andaimed their guns at the people inside. People in the basti were told to keep quiet andlet the mob do what they wanted, as they were given orders not to take any stepsagainst the Sangh Parivar. They were also ordered by the government to shoot thoseMuslims who take any action, they added. On continuation of the attack by the mob,identified as having been mobilized by the VHP, residents of the basti became fright-ened and ran for shelter to the concrete buildings in the area.
All three entry points to the basti were blocked off by the mobs. They had come intrucks and tempos. They were shouting “Kill the Muslims” (“Muslim ko maro!”) and other slogans. Around 1.00 p.m., the mob first burnt Neel Kamal Saw Mill, and thenHaruni Saw Mill. The Masjid was also destroyed. Police were present during these inci-dents; they watched the violence but did not intervene. The mob seemed to have a veryclear division of labour. There were around 40 people who were continuously firing. Whena gun would run out of ammunition, it would be passed to someone in a waiting truckwhose job was only to reload used weapons and hand newly loaded weapons to peoplewho were firing. People had both machine manufactured revolvers and ‘katta’ rifles.
Another group in the mob was mainly involved in looting and setting structures onfire. They had pouches of chemicals, which they would throw to start the fires. Onejeep contained all the material for setting fires. Evidence of these chemicals could beseen in burnt buildings more than a month later, as white powdery residue in pools ofblack oily liquid on the cement and stone floors. People were seen in the mobs carry-ing mobile telephones, and were observed coordinating their activities. People fromMuslim households kept running from the mob and gathering in various houses forsafety. By 2.30 p.m. it was very clear that the Muslims being attacked would have toleave the village. By then, police were openly encouraging the crowd to attack byshouting “Muslim ko maro, kato!”
By 4.00 p.m., everyone in the Muslim basti gathered in one household. There wereapproximately 600 non-Bohra Muslims and 35 Bohras present there. The burning andlooting continued around them, forcing them to leave this house as well. At night, themob tried to break open shops and buildings, looted, and set fire to this house in anattempt to kill people. The sarpanch, who is a tribal, tried helping the Muslims. Hecalled a member of Parliament, and described the situation. The MP told the sarpanchto send all the Muslims of Sukhsar to the nearby village of Kundala.
At midnight, they left for Kundala in two cars provided by the sarpanch, and two carsbelonging to Muslim community which had survived the carnage. These four cars were usedto make many trips to Kundala, where they were hidden for three days. People kept hiding atvarious places, as the journey to Kundala was full of hazards. On March 2, the entire basti ofSukhsar reached Kundala by 10 a.m. In order to save their lives, people left behind all theirproperty, jewelry and cash. Two women were injured and died in the process.
The looting and burning continued on March 2, 3 and 4. On March 5, the BSFarrived and did a flag march, and shifted all the people to the Jhalod relief camp underpolice escort. The Jhalod camp was opened on March 6. Many people were reunitedwith their family members in the camp. The two women who died enroute to Kundalawere also carried to Jhalod relief camp and buried there. People from Sukhsar stayedin the Jhalod camp for almost one month.
It was reported that 5 to 7 women were sexually assaulted, but no one in the com-munity was willing to talk about it openly. Usually the report was given in such a wayas to convey that, yes, sexual assaults did take place, but the assaults happened inother places, not in Sukhsar itself.
On March 10, an official from Sukhsar and circle inspector of Fatehpura came toJhalod to inform people that their buildings and property had been totally destroyed in this violence. Everything had been looted and burnt. The official of Sukhsar and circle inspec-tor of Fatehpura noted down information from people living in the Jhalod camp, acquiredthe judgment of arbitrators, gathered separate facts of the damage, and made a list.The total damage calculated was around Rs.6.5 crore. Over 80 permanent struc-tures had been destroyedReligious places like masjids and madrassas were also dam-aged and there were anti-Muslim graffiti and orange flags on the buildings. Peoplereport having spent one month living in fear in the Jhalod camp. Out of 178 cases,110 were given anything between Rs.1,000-1,250 for ‘ghar vakhri’ (household belong-ings). The rest have not been paid anything.
People claim that, when they applied for compensation for destroyed, stolen anddamaged property, the government did an unjust survey of the buildings. As theywere living in Jhalod camp, they received Rs. 10,000 -15000. In a few cases, theywere paid between Rs. 25,000-40,000. Only in 2 cases, people were paid Rs. 50,000.Against 84 buildings destroyed, people were given compensation for only 50 build-ings. As with the general pattern of compensation for these attacks, people weregenerally compensated far below what the replacement costs will be for all propertydamaged or destroyed in these attacks.
Muslims in the area owned roughly 72 shops, and have submitted evidences aboutthem, but were facing discrimination in receiving full remuneration. Small businesseshave not been listed, even though there were repeated attempts to have them listed.People felt discriminated against by the Hindu surveyors because of instances suchas this. Though the damage suffered is in the region of lakhs, in the case of manyfamilies, the government had paid only up to Rs. 50,000. A government officer toldmembers of this community that even if a person owned any number of houses orproperty on record, the government had declared only Rs. 50,000 as compensation.According to Hindu law, if a father is alive and he is very aged and his inheritors arestaying with him and the property is in one name then government will give remunera-tion as if losses were incurred by only one person, they said.
Muslims said: “We would like to demand adequate compensation for all those wholost their property in burning or looting. Even in May, anti-social elements from theDurgavahini, VHP and Bajrang Dal were instigating tribals to damage Muslim prop-erty and to kill them. Police also knows about it but government is not taking anysteps,” the complainants said.
The witnessess, all of whom requested anonymity, were bitter at the fact that theirstolen goods were still lying in the homes of neighbours and perpetrators.
In Jhalod, Jhalod taluka, Muslim families are primarily engaged in the agricul-ture and transport business. There is also a section of poorer daily wage Muslimlabourers. The violence targeted all sections of the Muslim community in thistown. In Jhalod, all the Hindu houses were marked with saffron flags several daysbefore February 27, 2002.
This was done the day before Id, i.e. on February 22, and people said that this hadsurprised them, since there was no Hindu festival at that time. In addition, there wasa rally of around 100-150 people at 4 p.m. on February 22, after which they heldmeetings all over the area.
The following BJP leaders from Jhalod were named by the local people as beinginvolved in these meetings: Bhagwan Panchal, Agnesh Panchal, Bhavesh BabubhaiKatar (son of the MP), Subhash Agrawal, Sunil Agrawal, Kaloobhai Sangada, ChhaganBhunatar (ex-corporator), Narainbhai (from Limli), Mukesh Karnawat, DalsukhMaharaj, Mukeshkumar Nandkishor Purohit, Shankar Labana, Maheshbhai Bhuria,Suresh Charal, Ramanbhai Admat Khutawala (sarpanch) and others.
On February 28, during the Gujarat Bandh nothing happened in Jhalod itself. How-ever, there was a spurt in the sale of petrol from the petrol pumps and acid from thechemical companies. All night, vehicles belonging to Babubhai Katara (MP) ran backand forth from his house and the houses of others and the surrounding villages. Later,it was realised that this was done to get all the weapons together and to collect peoplein preparation for the violence that was to follow.
At about 8-8.30 a.m. on March 1, two motorcycles and one Bohra-owned TVSshowroom were burnt in Mowada. After this, at about 9.30 a.m., at the bus stand inthe Nagar Palika Bureau, first a gift shop and then other Muslim-owned shops werelooted. At the same time, a shoot at sight order was in force in the Muslim area of thevillage. Whilst people were at home, working, in the morning, a large mob entered thevillage, beat up the men and women and looted their homes. The attacking mob wasequipped with guns, swords, revolvers, mobile telephones, petrol, truckloads of pack-aged chemicals, and drill machines. Starting at the taluka panchayat office, they startedlooting all the Muslim establishments on the Highway -Banswara road. Muslim homesand establishments faced extensive destruction and burning, particularly along theHighway. Fires gutted shops, godowns and businesses as well as houses owned byMuslims along the road.
Muslims in Jhalod also suffered terrible abuse, including severe physical attacks. Thosewho survived the attacks were often covered in burns and serious wounds, many ofwhich required but did not receive surgical attention. The people said that even if 4policemen had patrolled the area, the carnage and destruction could have been avoided.One of the first persons to be stabbed was Bibiben, who was stabbed by the mobinside her house and who died on the spot. Her daughter, Safiya, who tried to saveher, was also attacked and was seriously injured. Safiya’s niece, who is 12 years old,was also stabbed and injured. Safiya was shifted to a hospital in Dahod after a fewdays and remained in a serious condition. At the time, people could not get tohospital easily because the situation in Dahod was also quite bad. For a long time,she could not be shifted to Vadodara or Ahmedabad due to the continuing violencein these cities. It was only after May 1 that she was shifted to Ahmedabad, but bythen it was too late; Safiya finally succumbed to her injuries on May 6, inAhmedabad’s Al Amin Hospital.
During this first bout of attacks, Yusufbhai Kaira was also hit on both hands, witha sword, as he was sitting at home. After this, people came out of their houses andstarted running to save their lives. Yunus Yusuf Patel was shot by Bhavesh Katara(the MP’s son) and then Nanda Bagabhai Dindor’s son stoned him to death. All thehouses here were looted and burnt. Here the mob was about 500 strong. From herethey moved towards Koliwada, destroying everything on the way, and then, inKoliwada, Ishaq Abdul Karim Kooka was shot at in private firing.
Some residents reported that the following people were seen carrying guns: SubhashMakhanlal Agrawal, Bhavesh Babulal Katara, Gopal Makhanlal Agrawal, KiritMakhanlal Agrawal, Mukesh Makhanlal Agrawal, Suresh Charel, Balji Patel and RajniPatel. The mobs continued these acts of violence all through the day and finally, inthe evening, they went to a large timber mill and burnt that to the ground.
Then they proceeded to make a big disturbance all night, firing shots, burstingcrackers, hooting, keeping everyone in tension and fear. The entire Muslim commu-nity had gathered together in the Mandli Falia main bazaar. They said that they man-aged to protect themselves through the night because all of them had gathered in one“safe” area of the town; they were also defending themselves in any way they could.
On March 2, around 15-20,000 people blocked and surrounded the whole townfrom all sides. They were trying to enter it but could not. Although the Muslim com-munity was trying to defend themselves, they were finding it very difficult to do so. Inthat situation, at about 3 p.m., some of them agreed to attend a peace committeemeeting, which was held with Congress leaders, BJP leaders and Muslim leaders. Theyhad a lot of discussions but could not arrive at any ‘solution’ so they decided to meetagain the next day. Even as the meeting was in progress, houses belonging to a com-munity of Fakirs next to Loharwada, were burnt. The settlement, Bapunagar, wherethe Fakir community lived, was completely destroyed; the roofs and walls of about10 houses had been brought down. Bapunagar faces a huge open space, and residentscould see large mobs of people approaching, shouting loudly as they advanced to-wards them. The mob consisted of Adivasis from the Kaljiki Saraswani, Velpura andLakhanpur communities. At that stage, all the people from the settlement fled to-wards the main village. The mobs then proceeded to loot and burn the basti as well asthe graveyard nearby; they even dug up the graves. The destruction included breakingdown all the rooms, the water pumps, the tanks and even the pipes. All the trees,including fruit-bearing trees, were cut down and all the stored grain was burnt. TheFakirs have since requested that they be given some land in the middle of the villagein exchange for their land.
On March 3, the peace committee meeting was again held at around 12 noon.Amongst those who attended this meeting were the deputy collector Pagi, the mamlatdarPateliya sa’ab, the BJP MP Babubhai Katara, and VHP leaders Bhagwanbhai Panchal,Agneshbhai Panchal, Subhash Agrawal, Bharat Patel. At this meeting, the BJP leadersput some conditions before the Muslim community in exchange for being spared anyfurther violence. The conditions were as follows:
- 1. No Muslim boy should come out of the house after 10 p.m.
- 2. No azaan on the mike in the masjid.
- 3. Close Muslim students’ hostels.
- 4. Close slaughter-houses on the Highway.
- 5. Whenever our (Hindu) band crosses the masjid we will not stop playing.
- 6. No Muslim children should even stand and watch a Hindu Baraat.
At the time, the community panch agreed to these conditions because they were allunder tremendous pressure. As one of the persons who submitted his written testi-mony to the Tribunal said, “Our condition was very bad. We were moving aroundwith three dead bodies from March 1. They had not been buried, as we could not go tothe graveyard. All the Muslims from the town were in this Mandli Falia, main bazaar,and were surrounded from all sides by this large, violent mob. Finally we buried thethree bodies in our bazaar, in our jamaatkhana, the place where we eat. Jo zinda thheunki to halat kharab thi hi, jo mar gaye thhe unki bhi kahin jagah nahin thi. (Those who werealive were of course in a desperate situation, but even the dead had no place for adecent burial.) At that time we had no choice but to accept the conditions.”
Until about March 13, people stayed inside their houses, in their mohallas inMandli Falia, not coming out at all. From March 4, people from the villages aroundJhalod also started coming there and then, on March 14, the camp here startedand all the people from Jhalod whose houses had also been destroyed, went andstarted staying there.
Evidence recorded by the Tribunal from Dahod district indicates that the mobsarrived in vehicles such as trucks, tempos, jeeps, Marutis. The attacking mobs wereled and directed by local Hindu community leaders belonging to the Sangh Parivar.These leaders were using mobile phones, while the attacks were being carried on.These were the people that were identified by Muslim survivors and who have beennamed in the complaints sent or the FIRs recorded.
The second group had all the weapons, guns, trishuls and swords, and the arsenals,petrol, diesel, kerosene and chemicals to start the fires. They had vehicles loaded withchemicals and weapons. This was the group that was primarily responsible for thebrutal burning, the deaths, the sexual assaults and other abuse. In more than onevillage, Muslim survivors described how these men carried identical backpacks fromwhich they took out pouches of chemicals. The planning was so thorough that therewas a select group, which only performed the task of loading guns.
The third group was mainly involved in looting property from the houses and shops.In many cases, this group consisted of Adivasis. The mobs were very large in number,in thousands, and not always recognisable. There were some known faces in the crowdbut many seemed to be outsiders. In some villages people said that not all of thosewho were part of the mobs spoke Gujarati. Some of them were also speaking inMarathi and Hindi.
All the masjids, dargahs, madrassas and, in some places, churches, were completelydamaged, burnt. Obscenities and statements like, “Hindustan is for Hindus, Muslimsshould go to Pakistan,” as well as names like “Ram” and “Hanuman” were written onwhatever walls remained, and saffron flags were hoisted on them. All the propertyaround, including gardens and wells, was damaged.
Once the Muslim residents of the villages fled to safer spaces, the mobs looted and thenburnt the houses and shops at leisure. In many villages it has been reported that houses werebeing burnt until as late as March 10, and in some instances, even later. There was no damagewhatsoever to the marked Hindu houses. In Sanjeli the saffron flags were still there, as late asMay. What was also quite evident was that the attacks and destruction was effected in sucha manner that the Hindu houses were not damaged. In one village, the adjoining Hinduhouses were first sawed away from the Muslim houses and then the latter were set on fire.
In every structure in Sanjeli, be it a house or a shop -every door, window,window frame, grills, electric wiring, water pipes, taps, switch boards, electricmeters, every piece of movable property, even the roof, was missing. There weretraces of the chemical powders that were used. Every area had been burnt com-pletely. In many places there are burnt, bare walls remaining, while in some places,even walls have been broken down. The areas look as though they have beenbombed. Even bore-wells have been damaged/blocked. Every single big tree,including all fruit bearing trees, were cut down. The mobs made sure that therewere no signs of life left anywhere.
In most places, the looting and the destruction of property went on for days afterthe Muslim residents ran away from the villages. People claimed that many of theirgoods could still be found in the Hindu households in their villages, but the govern-ment has made no attempt to look for them so far.
Along with Ahmedabad (Naroda and Chamanpura) and Mehsana district, thedistricts of Panchmahal and Dahod experienced some of the most brutal actsof sexual violence against women during the Gujarat carnage. The attackersused verbal and physical abuse on them in full public view. The clear desire toattack the very dignity of the Muslim community through violent acts againstwomen and young children was a pattern in the violence. The tragedy of womenfrom the villages having to go back to the intimacy of a rural atmosphere –where all families are known to each other — and continue to live with theperpetrators of such crimes on their person cannot be imagined. That many ofthe leaders of these crimes are prominent leaders of the RSS/BJP/VHP/BD,carrying wealth and influence, makes the situation even more shocking. Thethreat of sexual assault was openly voiced all through the attacks. When themobs came into the villages, one of the things that they kept saying was, “Giveus your women and girls. We shall look after them.” Similar things were alsowritten on the walls of the houses that had been damaged.
In most cases where people were able to escape, women did not have to go throughactual physical sexual assault. But in all places where the crowd managed to catchhold of them, there was all manner of sexual violence and abuse, such as strippingthem, pawing them, making them run naked on the streets of the village and evengang rapes. Two women, among a group of three dozen people fleeing in tempos fromSanjeli, were caught by the mobs and later found dead. Tied to trees, their torsos wereburnt above the waist, suggesting gruesome violence.
After the bitter realities faced on their return to life in the village in question,over-exposure in group and media testimonies, and pressure from the commu-nity, the initial testimonies of women have now dwindled into stony silences.Knowing how difficult it is for women to come to terms with such violence,and also knowing the pressures that act on the women from outside and withinthe community, these gender crimes require urgent attention from the jurist andactivist community.
Many women also hinted at sexual abuse, but no one actually acknowledgedthe prevalence of rape during the attacks, other than the rapes of women whodied. But most women expressed a strong sense of insecurity and sorrow forthose who had to run across the land and make their way, on foot, to Dahod.“Our feet were full of thorns which we did not pull out till we reached Dahod.”“Only we know and our Allah knows what we have lived through.”
The Tribunal has recorded evidence about Dalsukh Maharaj and his ashram inSanjeli. Dalsukh is an ayurvedic vaidya (doctor), who runs a hostel for school childrenand is a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti as well as the VHP MargdarshakMandal. A Bhil tribal himself, Dalsukh Maharaj is a tribal who is of the view that‘Bhils are Hindus from the beginning.’ He asserted that the attack by the Bhils/Vanvasison Sanjeli was “swaymbhu” (‘spontaneous’) as they had been oppressed for ages andhave now risen.
This Maharaj mobilised Bhil tribals by spreading his message through the spokenand written word, through pamphlets, some of which have been documented in thePUDR report on the Gujarat violence.
“Muslim behaviour on ‘our’ (Adivasi) women;” “At least 100 Bhil women havebeen violated in Sanjeli alone;” Muslims consider ‘our’ widows to be everyone’s prop-erty;” “In Godhra Urdu School, they sent the Muslim teachers and students away andkilled two Hindu women teachers and put iron rods in their vaginas”
The Maharaj also spouted axioms about the character of Islam and Muslims: “Inthe Koran, it is written, Work for four months and cut up kafirs for eight months in ayear.” He also stated that Rs. 80,000 had been collected from Sanjeli alone to plan forthe train attack at Godhra and claimed that there are receipts.
While being the agent of such venom, the Maharaj could not provide the name ofeven one of the 100 women supposed to have been violated in Sanjeli, nor could he produce any receipts for the Rs. 80,000 that was supposedly collected for the Godhratrain attack. Even the alleged killing of two Hindu women teachers could not bedetailed with any facts or proof.
(The continuing reign of terror and the resulting insecurity in Dahod district, nearly nine monthsafter the orgy of violence, can be gauged from the fact that as this report was about to go to press, afew witnesses from Dahod district telephonically contacted a member of the Tribunal team, ex-pressly requesting that the names of the witnesses (16 oral and 29 written testimonies) who haddeposed before the Tribunal in May be withheld. It is in deference to that request that no witnesshas been named in this section.)
