The government of Gujarat, on 27 August, assured the Supreme Court that it would soon come up with a scheme to repair the mosques and other religious structures damaged during the 2002 riots. The Gujarat government’s U-turn came after 10 years of legal battle during which it refused to own up responsibility for restoring and repairing the religious structures damaged during the carnage in the state. The state government would draw up the scheme by the next hearing on 1 October and show it to the court as well as the petitioner, the Islami Relief Committee-Gujarat (IRCG).
IRCG had approached the Gujarat High Court in 2003, asking it to direct the state government to repair nearly 535 damaged religious places, mostly Muslim shrines and mosques, on the ground that the state, which was the custodian of life and property, failed miserably to do its duty. After the High Court’s decision in favour of IRCG, the State Government had approached the Apex Court in February.