Acquittal of 2002 Gujarat Genocide Accused is Shocking and Dangerous Trend

All Accused Acquitted! Who, then, Committed the Communal Pogrom?

In a complete blow to democracy, secularism and justice, a special court of Gujarat has acquitted all the 67 accused after 21-long-years of trial of 2002 Naroda Gam massacre case in which 11 Muslims were killed. Those acquitted include Maya Kodnani, a former minister of state and BJP leader, Babu Bajrangi of Bajrang Dal, and Jaydeep Patel of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

The violence witnessed in the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya massacre shocked the conscience of the country, where on February 28th, 2002, 97 Muslims, including 36 women and 35 children were killed. Maya Kodnani was convicted of orchestrating the violence in Naroda Patiya case, where witnesses testified that Kodnani was at the scene of the crimes, handing out swords to the right-wing goons and exhorted them to attack Muslims and at one point also fired a pistol. However, Home Minister Amit Shah gave a defense statement in favour of Maya Kodnani during the trial, which the Special Investigation Team (SIT) said was “not believable”.

In 2007, the Indian journal Tehelka published an interview with Babu Bajrangi, in which he is heard admitting to all the violence perpetrated by him and the other accused. Even though he has been out on bail since 2019, Babu Bajrangi was also heard stating on video, “Narendrabhai got me out of jail… He kept on changing judges… He set it up so as to ensure my release, otherwise I wouldn’t have been out yet”.

The BJP has been in absolute denial about its role in the 2002 Gujarat Pogrom, or otherwise justified it as their way to “punish rioters” and bringing “permanent peace” in the state. Contrary to their stance, the BJP has made systematic attempts to wash its hands off from the role it played in orchestrating this communal pogrom.

Recently, the Supreme Court dismissed the challenge by Zakia Jafri (the widow of late Congress leader Ehsan Jafri) to the closure report filed by the SIT in the Gujarat riots of 2002. Following this decision of the Supreme Court, Home Minister Amit Shah came down heavily on activist Teesta Setalvad and accused her giving baseless and false information about Gujarat riots, soon after the Supreme Court’s clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Teesta and RB Sreekumar, the former additional director general police, were both arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad on the basis of a FIR that copiously draws on the Supreme Court judgment in the Zakia Ehsan Jafri case.

On the occasion of Indian Independence Day in 2022, 11 men who were convicted of rape and murder during the Gujarat pogrom, were granted bail through special provision on the recommendation of the Narendra Modi government and were received with garlands by the BJP members upon their release, thus relinquishing any justice to be meted out to Bilkis Bano, the survivor in the case.

The BJP-led government has also been removing references to the 2002 Gujarat pogrom from history textbooks. They banned the BBC documentary made on the Gujarat pogrom and also denied the revelations made in the documentary that reaffirmed Narendra Modi’s role in communal violence. The BJP called it a propaganda propelled by ‘anti-national’ interests, but later let on IT and ED on loose to hunt down the BBC as well.

However, when it comes to election campaigns, the BJP has not shied away from using the Gujarat pogrom in an attempt to threaten the minority communities. For instance, Amit Shah has referred to 2002 Genocide on multiple accounts during his election rallies, by saying that Gujarat has attained ‘permanent peace’ after the BJP taught the perpetrators ‘a lesson’. Going with the same narrative and just after the Ram Navami violence in Sasaram and Biharsharif, Amit Shah also said that the ‘rioters’ running amok will be hung upside down if they come to power in 2025. However contrary to this, BJP has been shielding instigators and culprits who are responsible for communal violence.

Since 2014, under the BJP regime, the country has been witnessing increasing rate of communal polarisation, rising crimes against women, Dalits, Adivasis and minorities. This can be rightly termed as the outcome of Hindutva Supremacist politics where all the criminals aligning with the idea of BJP-RSS are given full protection and impunity. To the contrary, all those who dare to speak against this regime and are pro-people, are mercilessly persecuted for resisting the tyranny of state and building people’s movement against communal-fascist Narendra Modi government.

Quite clearly, both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, who occupy country’s highest posts have remained silent on the role played by communal culprits in all these incidents, giving tacit approval and impunity to hate mongers. This trend is proving dangerous for the harmony and peace of the country. The spirit of Constitution is being crushed, while all democratic institutions of country continues to get systematically bulldozed.