The judgement in Naroda Patiya case will hopefully serve as a deterrent to the incidence of riots in the future, observes HARITH ANSARI
On Friday (August 31), the country welcomed the judgement in Naroda Patiya massacre case of Gujarat, in which a special court sentenced 32 persons for life imprisonment. The judgement is very significant since the country has seen many riots and carnages, but for the first time big political leaders faced the heat for the acts committed. The credit for this hard-won victory goes to the witnesses who stood with courage against all odds, and to various organisations that provided them with necessary sustenance.
During Gujarat Carnage-2002, Naroda Patiya witnessed most gruesome incidents accounting for many deaths and enormous property loss. Thus, the Naroda Patiya case was very prominent in the mind and heart of all the organisations like Islami Relief Committee Gujarat (IRCG), Action Aid, St. Xavier Social Service Society (SXSSS), Gujarat Sarwajanic Relief Committee (GSRC), etc., working for relief and rehabilitation. A Coordination Committee of around 40 NGOs was formed and for better efficiency, distribution of tasks among NGOs was done. In this distribution of tasks, IRCG was assigned task for rehabilitation of the victim survivors and some legal work like providing basic legal assistance for the victims of Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaam. Thus, IRCG did the herculean task of reconstructing and repairing 550 houses of Muslims, 75 of non-Muslims, along with a community centre, a mosque and a madrasa at Naroda Patiya, and 35 houses and a mosque at Naroda Gaam.
During the course of action, it was felt that the pre-condition to success of a legal case against the culprits was that the witnesses are saved from any fear or allurement coming over them. Thus, a separate project for witness protection was taken up under convenorship of IRCG in coordination with Action Aid and SXSSS under which all important witnesses of Naroda Patiya and other major incidents were shifted to rehabilitation colonies at Vatva and Juhapura. Also, efforts were made to tackle financial needs of victims-witnesses, so that they could be saved from allurements coming from the culprits.
The task of keeping a keen eye on police investigation in Naroda was taken care by Action Aid, in which Adv. Somnath Vatsa played a laudable role. With regards to Naroda Patiya case, Adv. Vatsa prepared a very detailed report on the charge-sheet and brought out all the lacunas in the charge-sheet. Day-to-day need for legal assistance to victims/witnesses was taken care by Action Aid advocate. Just after some days of carnage, it became very evident that the police was not doing a truthful and wholehearted investigation to book the culprits in the case. Not to say of the investigation in Naroda Patiya case only, the investigations in other major cases like Visnagar, Sardarpura, Dipda Darwaja etc. appeared shoddy and just cover-ups. In year 2007, Tehelka released tapes of its sting operation, Operation Kalank which played a huge role in bringing the culprits to limelight, bragging their misdemeanours on camera and admitting to crimes committed by them. Tehelka in its report has given credit to Adv. Somnath for his collaboration in their analysis of police investigation and charge-sheet.
Thus, to fix this issue, IRCG along with NHRC filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking reinvestigation in major cases and transfer of major cases out of the State. In 2008, SC-appointed SIT for reinvestigation of nine major cases of Gujarat carnage, including Godhra train case, Naroda Patiya, Dipda Darwaja, Visnagar, etc.
Since 2008-09, Citizens for Justice and Peace started taking interest and intervened in Gujarat cases. Much help and assistance was received from their efforts. Subsequently, the role of CJP increased gradually and other organisations went into backdrop.
Looking back at the chain of events in Naroda Patiya and other cases, there were two major incidents which could have jeopardised success of the case. The first, when due to imprudent activities of a well-known lady social worker, some very important witnesses of the case were arrested by police at Vatva, Ahmedabad. However, the said matter was resolved with great wisdom and the said witnesses were got released from the clutches of police. And the second incident appeared, when there was infighting in CJP, and resultantly complaints were filed, alleging it of tutoring witnesses, etc. It was very possible that, like Baroda Best Bakery case, witnesses in this case too might be convicted. However, the problem was successfully solved and the case of Naroda Patiya could be saved from infighting at CJP.
In this way, through coordinated efforts by all the above organisations like IRCG, Action Aid, SXSSS, GSRC, CJP, etc., the victims of Naroda Patiya received some justice. This judgement in Naroda Patiya case will hopefully serve as a deterrent to the incidence of riots in the future.
Also, despite the Naroda Patiya case verdict being hailed from all quarters, it has to be said that the police persons who helped the rioters and carried out cover-ups during the investigation, and many political leaders like Jaydeep Patel and Gordhan Zadaphia despite being named by the witnesses, remained out of clutches of prosecution.
The moral of the story is that to attain justice in the Indian situation, it requires a comprehensive assistance (covering all the needs of the victims) and coordinated, long, sustainable and untiring efforts (by all NGOs fighting for justice).
[The writer, a victim of Gujarat Pogrom, has based this article on his talk with Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, Chairman – Islami Relief Committee Gujarat]