The court in Panchmahal district said that the 190 witnesses examined in the case had either “turned hostile” or “not supported the prosecution’s case” or were “unable to recall facts or identify the accused”.

Panchmahals: A court in north Gujarat’s Panchmahal district has acquitted 27 accused of gang rape and murder of over 10 people during the 2002 Gujarat carnage citing lack of evidence.

There were a total of 39 accused in the case, but the remaining 12 had died during the trial period. Additional sessions judge L.G. Chudasma of the Halol court observed that the prosecution case is based on “mere suspicion without any evidence on record”, Indian Express reported.

Delivering its verdict recently, the sessions court held that the 190 witnesses examined in the case had either “turned hostile” or “not supported the prosecution’s case” or were “unable to recall facts or identify the accused” in relation to incidents that took place on March 1, 2022.

According to available media reports the court has not commented on the inadequacy of the state’s prosecution case neither has it held any police officer or any part of the investigation team responsible for the failure. Witnesses turning hostile is a frequent malaise in India’s criminal justice system. Under Section 164 of the CRPC empowers courts to direct that evidence of worth is collected even while the trial is on.

The prosecution’s case was that the accused, as part of a mob, went on a rampage during a bandh call given after the Sabarmati train burning incident in Godhra on February 27. A first information report (FIR) was lodged against the accused at Kalol police station on March 2, 2002. The accused were booked for rioting, unlawful assembly, rioting with armed weapons, murder, and causing the disappearance of evidence, among other sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The prosecution also said that over 13 persons were killed when a mob of more than 2,000 people from “Hindu and Muslim communities” clashed with sharp weapons and inflammable objects in Kalol city in the Gandhinagar district. They damaged shops and set them on fire.

At the time, in a shocking incident, a man who was injured in police firing was burnt alive in a tempo he was being taken to a hospital for burn injuries. In another instance, a man stepping out from a mosque was attacked and burnt alive inside the mosque by rioters. The prosecution had detailed several such incidents of gory violence.

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The post 21 years down, ‘Lack of Evidence’, says Gujarat Court and Acquits 27 Accused of Gang Rape, Murder During 2002 Violence appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Supreme Court on January 28 granted bail to all 14 convicts in the Sardarpura massacre that took place in wake of the Godhra train burning incident in 2002. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant directed they perform social and spiritual service. The Sardarpura massacre took place on  February 28, 2002, when 33 Muslims, including 22 women were burnt alive at Sardarpura village in Vijapur tehsil of Mehsana district. 

The convicts have been split in two groups, one group would be moved to Indore and the other to Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. This was done as the advocate for the convicts said that they should be moved out of Gujarat for their security. The 14 convicts will be kept confined to the territorial limits of Indore and Jabalpur under the supervision of the district legal authorities, the order said. The order further said that the convicts will have to undertake community services for six hours a week besides reporting to the local police station on a weekly basis; these were the conditions of their bail. The court asked them to do social and spiritual work while on bail. District legal authorities were also directed to find livelihood for the convicts and to file compliance report recording the conduct of the convicts.

There were two bail applications that the bench heard. The main applicant, convict Prahladbhai Jagabhai Patel said in his application that the sentencing of six of the 14 convicts was based upon one eye witness account. The second application of the rest of the convicts stated that their conviction was based on account of one or two witnesses only.

The bail was opposed by counsel appearing for state of Gujarat saying that a trial court had convicted 18 persons in this case, of which one died and 17 had appealed to the Gujarat High Court. The Gujarat High Court had then sentenced 14 of these accused to life imprisonment in 2016, while acquitting 3. The conviction of these 14 people is in appeal before the apex court at present. 

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The post Gujarat genocide: SC grants bail to 14 convicted in Sardarpura massacre appeared first on SabrangIndia.

I was so happy, Amma!
Soon I would take
my first breath of air,
I would feel
my own pangs of hunger,
I would see
my own share of sunshine.

I was so happy, Amma!
I had seen the silhouette
of Abbu’s palm on your belly;
I wanted to see his face,
I wanted to see Abbu for myself,
I wanted to see my share of the world.

I was so happy, Amma!
Then one day
I was frightened… slithering like a fish…
in the waters of your womb;
What was this unfamiliar shadow over the water…
I sensed you crawling,
not walking;
It was hurting me, Amma!
I don’t know what happened next;
From the soft and cosy darkness of your womb

I landed
in harsh sunlight
and then…
a raging fire.

That was a very major operation, Amma!

I saw
with eyes
that never opened
big, big doctors bent over you, Amma,
three-pronged surgeon’s knives
in their hands…
They let out a shriek when they saw me!
Why did they shriek, Amma…
Were they overjoyed to see me?

The moment I was out,
they gave me fiery toys, Amma!
And then I was so lost in play,
I didn’t even look at you…
But you must have sung me a childbirth song
with your last breath, Amma!

I was never born, Amma!
Nor did I ever die;
Like an unborn child in hospital,
stored in coloured water,
I became immortal, Amma!
But there is no coloured water here,
only a searing fire!
How long must I keep burning… Amma!

(Kauser Bano from Naroda Patiya in Ahmedabad was attacked by a mob on February 28, 2002. She was pregnant at the time. The murderers slit her stomach and flung her foetus into the fire. In this poem, the foetus is imagined to be an unborn girl to signify another dimension of sexual assault.)

(From Dakshin Tola, a collection of poems by Anshu Malviya. Translated from the Hindi by Javed Anand.)

Archive from Communalism Combat February-March 2012 issue

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