NEW DELHI, 18 August 2004 — India’s highest court yesterday asked the government of western Gujarat state to reopen about 2,000 cases related to deadly Hindu-Muslim riots, which were closed by police on grounds the suspects could not be found.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court issued this direction while hearing a petition filed by the National Human Rights Commission.
The court directed the Gujarat government to set up a high-level police committee headed by the director general of police to review closure reports filed in 2000-odd riot cases and find out whether further investigation was required. The court directed the director general to inform it directly every three months about the progress made in this regard.
The rights commission alleged that of the 4,252 cases registered in connection with the communal violence that afflicted Gujarat in 2002, over 2,000 were closed due to discrepancies in filing the first information report. If and when the committee decides to order fresh investigation, the bench clearly stated that the cases should be vested with officers other than those who had earlier conducted the investigation.
The bench also called on non-government organizations to pass on any relevant information related to cases they come across to the police.
The court order is a fresh blow to the Hindu fundamentalist state government, which was accused of not preventing the worst religious riots in a decade and of turning a blind eye to the killing of more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, by Hindu mobs.
The violence broke out after a mob torched a train, killing 59 Hindus. Human rights groups claimed police often looked the other way during the riots and that state authorities had been lax in prosecuting the perpetrators.
“This unprecedented judgment is an indictment of the Gujarat government and the police,” said Cedric Prakash, a social activist in the western state who has campaigned on behalf of riot victims. “We had given up hope but this judgment reaffirms our faith in the judicial system,” said the Roman Catholic priest.
While Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was unavailable for comment, Minister of State for Home Amit Shah said that the state would act on the court’s direction. He said: “No wrongs were committed in the previous investigations, but still we will respect the spirit of the order. It is our duty. The Supreme Court is the last judicial stage in our constitution and we immensely respect it.”
Not ready to cross swords with the Supreme Court on the Gujarat issue, Modi’s Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed the decision. BJP Vice President and spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: “The BJP has always believed that the victims should get justice and the guilty punished, but what is unfortunate is that the entire Gujarat episode has been politicized, which is most inappropriate.”
Welcoming the decision, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind spokesman Maulana Abdul Hameed Nomani said: “We welcome the Supreme Court decision. We hope that the victims get justice and the culprits are punished. The police tried its best to save culprits by closing the cases. But the court quashed this attempt by calling for their re-investigation. It is a great decision.”
All India Muslim Personal Law Board spokesman, S.Q.R. Ilyasi said: “It is an extraordinary order. People were losing faith in the judiciary. This order will restore confidence in the victims and minorities in general.”
