Police: Dereliction of Duty

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

Annexure 9 
Police: Dereliction of Duty

Testimonies from the numerous survivors of the genocide in Gujarat, provide abundant evidence ofderelictionof duty and in many cases even complicity of sections of the police force in the ethnic cleansing of Muslims.Numerous reports published in the national dailies since March 1, too, record several instances of brazenanti-Muslim bias, evident in the acts of commission and omission by policemen -from constables to topofficials-SRP jawans and even Fire Brigade personnel. We reproduce below excerpts from some of them:

Minors shot by police

Vadodara: An 11-year-old girl in Dudhia village was hit on the head by a bullet in police firingand is now recuperating at the SSG hospital, Vadodara. A 14-year-old was killed in police firingat Kisanwadi. The bullet went through his chest. In Halol, a bullet ricocheted from a wall on averanda of a one-storied-house, injuring a two-and-a-half-year old. At a time when the statepolice are accused of “inaction” as mobs went around looting and killing during the recent riots,records at the SSG Hospital here, which is treating numerous riot victims, are pointing at another“folly” – police forgot the rule book during the riots and shot many above the waist whilecontrolling the mobs.

—The Times of India, March 1, 2002

Police chief vanishes as Rajkot burns

Rajkot: While Rajkot burnt on Thursday, its police commissioner did a vanishing act. Asmobs rampaged through the city and curfew had to be clamped after a gap of 17 years, UpendraSingh switched his mobile phone off and was nowhere to be found. And, with their chief not insight, the inefficiency of the local police came to the fore as mobs attacked marked targets at will.

—The Times of India, March 1, 2002

“The Police watched as we were attacked”

Vadodara: “We were surrounded on all sides by police vans but had to contend with stonesfrom the mob. The police did nothing to stop the attack. On the contrary, an ex-corporatorinstructed them on how they should ensure that we have no way to escape,” said a resident ofMemon colony. “The police looked on as mob attacked and destroyed homes of an ex-judgeand retired army colonel,” said Iqbal Memon, who also added to the complaints of policeinaction.

—The Times of India, March 2, 2002

RAF accused of atrocities in Surat

Surat: Rapid Action Force (RAF) jawans are alleged to have beaten up and misbehaved withMuslim women and an elderly maulvi in Surat. The jawans reportedly went on the rampage onMarch 3, a day after residents of the predominantly Muslim suburb of Rander faxed a mes-sage to President KR Narayanan and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, seeking protection fromHindu mobs. They now plan to move court and complain to the human rights commissionagainst the RAF and police.

—The Hindustan Times, March 5, 2002

6 deaths after mob attack, police call it ‘asphyxiation’

Por (Gandhinagar dist.): … Police say all mohalla residents were evacuated; the villagers saysome had already been killed before the evacuation began. Irfan Ali Shaikh, a survivor wholost his wife, says women and children were soft targets for the mob. “They killed thempressing their fingers on their throats and police also forced us to bury the bodies in a hurry tokill any proof of murder.”

—The Indian Express, March 5, 2002

Police fails to provide security to activist

Ahmedabad: Well-known social activist and state vice-president of the People’s Union forCivil Liberties, JS Bandukwala, a personal friend of defence minister George Fernandes, hasbeen forced to go into hiding following an attack on his residence at Sama, Baroda. The policehas failed to provide adequate security to him despite several requests. This is not the first timethat the Bandukwalas have been targeted during communal riots.

—The Asian Age, March 6, 2002

Failing the people

Sabarkantha: 137 petitioners from the district have moved the Gujarat High Court to havetheir voices heard. They claimed that the police had not recorded their individual FIRs. The roleof the police in Sabarkantha district, as a case in point, has only recently become the subject ofdebate, from the Lok Sabha to the Police Bhavan in Gandhinagar. The main allegation againstthe Sabarkantha police is that they did not do enough to protect the innocent and were nowpreventing the registration of FIRs against the individuals who led the mobs.

—The Indian Express, March 13, 2002

“We were just watching, why did they fire at us?”

Ahmedabad: “All the women had gathered for majlis -a ceremony before Muharram which is attended by women only. We were returning home when we saw smoke aroundNavapura area... the women came outside to check what was happening when suddenly, po-lice personnel barged inside our homes and started firing directly at the women,” alleges Mumtaz.(The 18-year-old Mumtaz Bano Darbar, a physically challenged girl, escaped death, though shewas hurt by a police bullet)...

“They didn’t even throw tear-gas shells or lathi charge first,” claims Sherbano Abbas Bukhari,an 18-year-old girl who was shot in the chest. “The policewala was only five metres away whenhe fired directly at me,” sobs Sherbano, who is in a very critical condition.

—The Indian Express, March 22, 2002

FIR says Muslim MLA led riot mob

Ahmedabad: In a glaring example of what appears to be police connivance with the rulingBJP government in Gujarat, the Ahmedabad police put the name of a Muslim MLA in a FIRfor instigating mobs to burn Hindu establishments when he was actually in the Gujarat Assem-bly attending the session discussing the law and order situation in the state.

—The Asian Age, March 23, 2002 257