NEW DELHI, 20 September 2003 — The Hindu fundamentalist-ruled Indian state of Gujarat, faced with withering criticism from the country’s highest court, said yesterday it would seek a fresh trial for 20 men acquitted of involvement in religious riots.
Last week the Supreme Court slammed the Gujarat government for its failure to punish those involved in last year’s Hindu-Muslim clashes after a court exonerated 20 Hindus, charged with killing 12 people in a bakery, for lack of evidence.
The gruesome killing of the 12 Muslim men in Baroda city was one of the most barbaric incidents in the state when rampaging Hindu groups sought revenge after 59 Hindus were burned alive in a train by a mob.
More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the reprisal attacks.
The state government would immediately amend its appeal against the acquittal of the 20 people and seek a retrial, Gujarat’s most senior bureaucrat, P.K. Lahiri, told the Supreme Court.
Last week Supreme Court Chief Justice V.N. Khare termed the state government’s earlier appeal an “eyewash,” saying the draft was not strong enough and suggested the administration resign if it could not enforce the rule of law.
The court’s strong criticism of the Gujarat government, in response to an appeal by the independent National Human Rights Commission and a witness seeking a fresh trial in the case, led to calls for the resignation of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi, who was chief minister of the state during the riots and was accused of turning a blind eye to the slaughter of Muslims, was re-elected in elections held in late 2002.
Critics accuse Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which also heads the federal coalition, of a longstanding bias against India’s minority Muslims, charges the party denies.
