AHMEDABAD, 4 April — At the peak of Hindu-Muslim clashes on Feb. 28, an armed Hindu mob forcibly stopped the car of Sanjeev Mishra, an Ahmedabad-based Hindu businessman on city’s Shola Road in the presence of some policemen. The mob checked Mishra’s identity card allowed him to go. But the police force led by a sub inspector signaled the mob to check the driving license of the driver.
Mishra was quoted by daily Navyug newspaper as saying, “My driver is a Hindu and he did not have the driving license with him. But the mob stripped him to find out his religious identity.
“As soon as they came to know the driver, Mukhtar, was a Muslim they beat him badly before setting him on fire. Within 20 minutes five persons — all Muslims — were burned alive in front of me after their identities as Muslims were confirmed.”
The policemen on duty, threatened Mishra with “dire consequences” if he reported the incident to the media or any one. The same day a group of Hindus chased Bashiruddin, an autorickshaw driver in the city. Bashir entered into police station to save his life. In stead of giving Bashir any protection, the policemen on duty threw him out. Bashir was caught by the mob and set on fire.
Last week a group of policemen from the same police station came to a city relief camp where Bashir’s wife was living with her two little children and warned her not to reveal the name of the police station where her husband had sought refuge just before being burned down by the mob.
“They threatened I will not get the monetary compensation I am suppose to get for the death of my husband, if I went against them,” said Bashir’s wife.
Stories of brutal killings of Mukhtar and Bashir came to light when National Human Rights Commission members visited Gujarat last week. The fact that police incited and colluded with Hindu mobs in the killing of these two Muslims reveals an ugly truth that the police sponsored the riot and blindly sided with the Hindus.
“They (police) have done little to prevent the carnage not because of their incompetence but because they share the prejudices of the Hindu gangs who were busy pulping their Muslim neighbors,” writes the London Observer.
Criticizing the role of the police some Indian newspapers too echoed the same sentiments. “(In Gujarat) police simply acted as an extended arm of the (Hindu) communal elements, indulging in looting and killing,” said The Hindu. Analysts, NGOs, and human rights activists — all opined it was a lopsided riot, militant
Hindus killing defenseless Muslims, apart from looting and destroying their properties. Out of 135 (135) killed in police firing more than hundred are Muslims. “The number clearly shows how our policemen were over enthusiastic to point their guns at Muslims,” said an official. Ahmedabad Police Commissioner P.C. Pandey admitted the partisan role played by police in the riot. Since assuming power in 1998 BJP government of the state was following a deliberate policy to “saffronize‚ the state police.
At the behest of the ministers, senior police officers were forced to fill up lower ranks of home guards and constables with recruits from VHP and Bajrang Dal activists. According to a confidential report, in the year of 2000 Gujarat recruited 2,410 constables and out of them only 32 were Muslims.
For every 75 Hindus there were only one Muslim recruited in a state where Muslims’ constitute 16 percent of the total population. Out of 65 inspectors of police in the state only two are posted in the field, the report said. At the senior level, the state had eight Muslim Indian Police Service (IPS) officers. All of them are in insignificant “support systems” positions — none of them are in “active policing”. According to norms when an IPS officer gets the first promotion he is given a field posting. Here in Gujarat if a Muslim IPS officer is promoted he is sent to the computer cell, police training academy or given charge of police housing. “We are always put on secondary duties — never do we get the job of an executive officer,” a Muslim IPS officer said.
However, one doubts if Muslim IPS or other middle-ranking officers could really protect the suffering Muslims had they been in the field. Last week 27 IPS officers — all Hindus — were transferred. Their crime: They “acted against the establishment” by arresting BJP, VHP, and Bajrang Dal leaders and suspending some subordinate police officials charged with rioting.
