Impunity In The Aftermath

VII.Impunity In The Aftermath

Even as attacks continued to occur six weeks after the Godhra attacks, theGujarat state administration was engaged in a massive cover-up of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Vishwa HinduParishad's extensive involvement. The state government's claims to have arrested 2,500 people in early Marchin connection to post-Godhra violence were undermined by reports claiming that no BJP, VHP, or Bajrang Dalactivists were among those arrested. Police officials have either refused to name them in the police reports-FIRs-orunder pressure from the state administration have booked some under less serious charges.²²²Many police officers who have pursued charges against leaders of the attacks on Muslims, or those who tried tomaintain law and order during the attacks, have since been transferred. Muslims in the state have been deniedequal protection of the law and continue to be arbitrarily detained and booked on false charges followingcombing operations in Muslim neighborhoods.

Impunity for BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal Members
According to press reports, numerous BJP and VHP leaders and members have beenaccused of murder, arson, rioting with deadly weapons, and conspiracy, among other crimes, in the policereports filed following the massacres in Naroda Patia and Gulmarg Society, although few if any have beencharged.²²³

Police reports obtained by the Associated Press name a specific BJP leader ashaving led the attack on Gulmarg Society while pinpointing the responsibilities of named VHP leaders forparticipation in the killings at Naroda Patia:

One report said nine people, including local Bharatiya Janata Party leaderDeepak Patel, headed Hindus who burned to death 42 people, including former Parliament member Ehsan Jaffrey,in the Muslim neighborhood known as Gulbarg Society in Meghaninagar. "These persons, armed with weapons,led a mob of 20,000 to 22,000, which attacked Gulbarg Society and set it ablaze," said the report byKirit Erda, senior inspector-in-charge of the Meghaninagar police station. "They first burned to death 18residents and later burned 24 more persons in the same place," said Erda's report, written in theGujarati language.

A separate report dealing with the Naroda killings blamed members of the WorldHindu Council. "The carnage at Naroda Patia was the handiwork of a mob of 6,000, which was led by BabuBajrangji, Kishan Kosani, T.J. Rajput, Harish Rohit and Raju Goyal," said the report written by N.T. Bala,an assistant police sub-inspector. "These people, possessing deadly weapons, led the mob of about 6,000,all belonging to the Hindu community," said Bala's report. It details how the mob set fire to 24 homes,killing the 65 Muslims inside.²²⁴

According to the Associated Press, the Gujarat state joint secretary for theVHP Jaideep Patel confirmed that all five men were local leaders of the organizations but charged that thereports were false: "Police have falsely implicated my men in this case," Patel said. "Withoutdoing any investigation, the FIR was lodged by the assistant sub-inspector in link with some anti-Hinduforces"²²⁵

Patel himself is reportedly named in a police complaint as one of theattackers who set fire to a house in Naroda Patia:

The FIR mentions Mr. Patel and five others as having led a mob of about 1,500to 2,000 people which attacked the building and set it afire with a large number of people trapped inside. Italso claims that the mob looted household goods and other valuable material. The FIR, filed under varioussections, names Mr. Patel and others for rioting, dacoity [banditry] and arson among other charges.²²⁶

Officials, however, reportedly cited state government instructions not toarrest the leaders of these and other attacks. According to an article in the Asian Age:

"It is politically incorrect to arrest them and we are under tremendouspressure to not to act against them," a top police official told. These six persons [involved in theNaroda Patia attacks], notorious for their fanaticism, have not been arrested by the police so far and tophome department officials say that this is because of the state government's instructions.

A senior Indian Police Service official admitted, "While most of thepolicemen have consciously avoided naming any BJP, VHP or Bajrang Dal activist in the FIRs, some conscientiouspolice officials have done so. Now they are under severe pressure to make amends."²²⁷

To probe the two incidents, the Gujarat government has appointed AssistantCommissioner of Police P.N. Barot, an officer reportedly handpicked by the VHP. According to an article in theAsian Age, the appointment was made despite "a strong representation from a section of the Gujaratpolice that the Gulbarg Society killings and the Naroda massacre need a proper investigation." Thearticle added that the "Gujarat police are distressed with the VHP functioning as a parallelauthority" and that "both the cases do not fall under the jurisdiction of Mr. Barot, who is wellknown for his VHP connection."²²⁸

Manipulation of Police Reports
An attorney assisting victims filing police reports in Ahmedabad, who asked notto be identified, told Human Rights Watch that in many cases the police were misreporting statements in theFirst Information Reports (FIRs) and omitting the names of the accused. The National Human Rights Commissionalso expressed concern over allegations of "distorted or poorly recorded" FIRs (see below). Theattorney told Human Rights Watch:

People don't trust the local police. They are saying that all this happened intheir presence. There have been some arrests and some of the police have tried to save people. When witnessesfile complaints, the police enter their statements according to their preference. They don't file complaintsproperly. People are uneducated and the police don't show them the statement, they just get them to sign it.The police don't record statements properly. In some cases, they won't write the name of the accused. In onecase, for example, seven people were identified but they didn't write their names. This area is covered by theMadhavpura police station but this is happening in all stations, also at the Sabarmati police station.²²⁹

Similar problems have been documented in rural Gujarat. Nearly 137 personsfrom Sabarkantha district, for example, have reportedly petitioned the high court claiming that the policehave not filed their FIRs properly: "Only cases referring to a mob attack are being registered. Policeturn a deaf ear to others, where the perpetrators have been identified."²³⁰

The effect of these FIRs was made clear by advocate Bhushan Oza, a member ofthe Citizens' Initiative that has collected a large number of what are know as "omnibus FIRs," wherethe accused is identified only as "an unruly mob" or "a mob of 10,000." Oza told the Timesof India: "You need to hold an identification parade based on the information given in the FIR....The procedure has to be completed before taking a particular case to court. You can't identify an accused forthe first time in the court. The law does not allow this and there are judgments to this effect based on the1985 riots"²³¹

On April 24, 2002, India's National Commission for Women criticized the policein Gujarat for not registering cases of violence against women. Commission chairperson Purnima Advani statedthat "the number of FIRs registered was much less than the incidents of violence against women reportedto the NCW."²³²

Police Transfers
The transfer of police officers who tried to stop mobs from attacking Muslims hascome under close scrutiny by the National Commission for Minorities and the NHCR (see below). In a letter toAdditional Chief Secretary (Home) Ashok Narayan, reported in the Indian Express, Gujarat DirectorGeneral of Police A.K. Chakravarty too took strong exception to the transfer of certain IPS officers who hadtaken steps to maintain law and order during the post-Godhra violence in their districts. Among the transferscited:

Kutch SP Vivek Srivastav has been transferred as Deputy Commissioner of Police(Prohibition and Excise). He had arrested a Home Guards commandant having VHP links, and some otherinfluential people for creating trouble in the border district.

Bhavnagar SP Rahul Sharma has been shunted out to Ahmedabad as DCP (Control).He had successfully thwarted an attempt by a mob to attack a madrasa [Islamic school] on Ghogha Road, andrescued 400 inmates. In the firing that he had ordered to beat back the mob, four persons were killed.

Sharma had also registered cases against attackers despite pressure from localBJP leaders. This is Sharma's fifth transfer in the last one year.

Banaskantha SP Himanshu Bhatt, known for his competence, has been shifted tothe Intelligence Bureau at Gandhinagar, because he had suspended a PSI for not taking action against a mobwhich went about torching shops and houses. Bhatt did not withdraw the suspension orders in spite of pressurefrom higher-ups.

DCP (Zone IV), Ahmedabad City, P B Godhia, who had registered a case againstNaroda BJP MLA Mayaben Kodnani and VHP leader Jaydeep Patel, has been put in charge of Civil Defence. He hadbooked several other VHP activists for their alleged involvement in violence.²³³

A superintendent of police in Rajasthan faced similar protests by the BJPstate unit for taking action against rioters there.²³⁴

Detaining Muslim Youth

The arbitrary detention and filing of false charges against Muslim youthduring and after the initial attacks in Gujarat remains largely unchecked. An attorney working in Vadodara andAhmedabad told Human Rights Watch that the detention and filing of false charges against Muslims was rampantin these cities.²³⁵ When Human Rights Watch askedresidents of Chartoda Kabristan camp if they had been able to go home since arriving at the camp, one maleteenager responded, "The government is with the VHP and the Bajrang Dal. They are combing our areas. Ifwe go back there, to our homes, the police fire on them, and take them to jail to show that they have arrestedpeople."²³⁶

The mullana (cleric) of the Chotti Masjid mosque near Barasache kiChali, Gomptipur, told Human Rights Watch he was beaten by the police on February 28, 2002 as they searchedfor the Muslim boys who had run inside his mosque for protection:

The police surrounded us. Some children had run inside the mosque forprotection. The police pulled me out, slapped me, and hit me with the butt of their gun twice. They asked mefor keys to the inside room and I said I didn't have them so they hit me again. Then they grabbed the boys andtook them and beat them. There were ten or twelve of them. They left me behind. Those boys were arrested andhave not returned. Five people were killed here in police firing, those cases have been filed against the boysthat they took.²³⁷

Bullets had scarred the walls of the mosque viewed by Human Rights Watch. Theblood of a young Muslim boy who, according to witnesses, ran into the mosque after being stabbed with a swordstill remained on the wall. He too was dragged away by the police.

They were among twenty-six Muslim youth arrested between February 28 and March1 and taken to the area police station before being transferred to the central station. One resident involvedin following the legal proceedings told Human Rights Watch about the nature of cases filed against them:"A woman named Jainab was burned alive here by the police and the RSS. That case is on our boys underSection 302 [murder] of the Indian Penal Code and there are many other charges against them. They were hidingin the mosque and they arrested them."²³⁸

A Citizens' Initiative report on violence against women in Gujarat found thatin Millat Nagar, a neighborhood then-under curfew in Ahmedabad, "under the guise of `combing operations'the Police are picking up young Muslim boys at random. Mothers live in constant fear.... So acute is this fearof the Police that even for small tasks to be done outside the home women venture out more rather than men. Noone knows why and under what charge these young men are being arrested."²³⁹

A People's Union for Civil Liberties report on violence against women inVadodara, Gujarat, also documents numerous instances of police abuse against women during house to housesearches ("combing operations") in which male family members were beaten and arrested by the police.²⁴⁰

Even a Muslim member of the Gujarat legislative assembly was falselyimplicated in an FIR. According to a report by the Asian Age, Faroukh Sheikh, a Congress MLA [member oflegislative assembly] representing the sensitive Dariapur area, was named in an FIR charging him with leadinga mob to assault Hindu business establishments in Sindh Bazaar and Revdi Bazaar (see section on Attacks onHindus). Sheikh was in fact in the state assembly that day.²⁴¹

²²² Robin David andLeena Misra, "Legal experts fear manipulation of FIRs," Times of India, March 26, 2002.

²²³ "VHP, BJPworkers named in FIR on riots," Times of India, March 4, 2002.

²²⁴ Rupak Sanyal,"Indian police reports say governing party official and Hindu nationalist leaders led mobs,"Associated Press, March 5, 2002.

²²⁵ Ibid.

²²⁶ Manas Dasgupta,"Gujarat VHP leader named in FIR on Naroda incident," Hindu, March 19, 2002.

²²⁷ "ModiProtects BJP, VHP Men," Asian Age, March 4, 2002 (accessed April 15, 2002).

²²⁸ "Pro-VHPofficer to prove worst massacres," Asian Age, March 25, 2002.

²²⁹ Human RightsWatch interview, attorney, Ahmedabad, March 22, 2002.

²³⁰ "Police notnaming names in FIRs," Times of India, March 26, 2002.

²³¹ Robin David andLeena Misra,, "Many FIRs' but culprits go scot-free," Times of India, March 24, 2002.

²³² "WomenCommission indicts Gujarat Govt," Press Trust of India.

²³³ Bashir Pathan,"Modi ties hands of cops who put their foot down," Indian Express, March 26, 2002.

²³⁴ Sukhmani Singh,"Varanasi to Ajmer: SP braves saffron rage to keep peace," Indian Express, March 18, 2002.

²³⁵ Human RightsWatch interview, attorney M.D., Ahmedabad, March 23, 2002.

²³⁶ Human RightsWatch interview, sixteen-year-old male resident of Chartoda Kabristan camp, Ahmedabad, March 23, 2002.

²³⁷ Human RightsWatch interview, Chotti Masjid mullana, Ahmedabad, March 23, 2002.

²³⁸ Human RightsWatch interview (name withheld), Ahmedabad, March 23, 2002. Other charges filed against the Muslim youthinclude: obstructing a public servant in the discharge of his public functions (IPC, Sec. 186); disobedienceto an order duly promulgated by a public servant (IPC, Sec. 188); voluntarily causing hurt to deter a publicservant from his duty (IPC, Sec. 332); causing hurt by endangering the life or personal safety of others (IPC,Sec. 337); assault, or the use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty (IPC,Sec. 353); and mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc. (IPC, Sec. 436).Section 135 of the Bombay Police Act, which authorizes arrest and punishment for violations of Section 37 thatpermits police to prohibit various kinds of public assembly, was also invoked. The pattern is not unique toGujarat. A study undertaken by former Inspector General (Border Security Force) Vibhuti Narain Rai on policeneutrality during communal riots found that "even in riots where the number of Muslims killed was manytimes more than the Hindus, it was they who were mainly arrested, most searches were conducted in theirhouses, and curfew imposed in a harsher manner in their localities. This observation holds good for even thoseriots where almost [all those] killed were Muslims" (emphasis in original). Asia-Pacific Human Rights Network, "Gujarat riots point to need for police reform."

²³⁹ Citizens'Initiative, "The Survivors Speak."

²⁴⁰ People's UnionCivil Liberties, "Women's Perspectives."

²⁴¹ "FIR saysMuslim MLA led riot mob," Asian Age, March 23, 2002.