Not to offend or rub it the wrong way .Its not against any one community ,but against beastiality .There is a demon hidden in everyone of us lest we forget …
HOW HAS THE GUJARAT MASSACRE AFFECTED
MINORITY WOMEN
The Survivors Speak
Fact-finding
by
a Women’s Panel
Syeda Hameed, Muslim Women’s Forum, Delhi
Ruth Manorama, National Alliance of Women, Bangalore
Malini Ghose, Nirantar, Delhi
Sheba George, Sahrwaru, Ahmedabad
Farah Naqvi, Independent Journalist, Delhi
Mari Thekaekara, Accord, Tamil Nadu
Sponsored by
Citizen’s Initiative, Ahmedabad
April 16, 2002
(This report may be quoted, in whole or in part, with due acknowledgement)
Acknowledgements
The fact-finding team would like to acknowledge the following individuals in Gujarat, who gave generously of their time and insights at a time of continuing trauma for the people of Gujarat and the entire country:
Gagan Sethi, Martin Macwan, Trupti Shah, Renu Khanna, Sejal Dand, Jhanvi Andheria, Neeta Hardikar, Stalin. K, Mehmuda and Naseem from Sahrwaru, Bahercharbhai Patel (for guiding us to remote rural relief camps) Achyut Yagnik, Ila Behn Pathak, Annie Prasad, and Valjibhai Patel (for sending us translations from the Gujarati vernacular press)
We also thank the many local activists and coordinators of relief camps who found time to sit with us despite the urgency of the task they had at hand. Above all, a salute to the women - survivors all, who had the will to live, and the courage to speak of the unspeakable.
Contents
Introduction … 6
Section I: Sexual Violence Against Women … 8
q Testimonies of Sexual Violence
q Sexual Violence and the Media
Section II: Women’s Experiences of the State … 18
q Political Complicity
q Role of the Police
q Women’s Testimonies of the Role of the State
Section III: In the Wake of Violence … 27
q Visiting the Camps
q Ghettoisation: The Rural Experience
q Economic Destitution
q New Rural Divides
q VHP and Bajrang Dal : Women’s experiences
q Small Rays of Hope
q State Response: Peace Committees
Section IV: Violations of International Instruments … 40
Section V: Conclusions and Recommendations … 47
Annexures : … 50
(PLEASE NOTE: THE PAGINATION ON THIS MICROSOFT WORD VERSION OF THE REPORT DOES NOT MATCH THE PAGINATION ON THE PRINTED VERSION)
Annexures
Section I: Sexual Violence Against Women
Annexure 1.1: Testimony of Sexual Violence
Annexure 1.2: Testimony of Sexual Violence
Annexure 1.3: Testimony of Sexual Violence
Annexure 1.4: Testimony of Sexual Violence
Annexure 1.5: Testimony of Sexual Violence
Annexure 1.6: Excerpts from two largest Gujarat Newspapers: Sandesh and Gujarat Samachar
Section II: Women’s Experiences of the State
Annexure 2.1: A meeting with Maya Kodnani, BJP MLA from Naroda Patiya
Annexure 2.2: A meeting with Sarpanch Nathibehn, Laxmipura Village, Sabarkantha
Annexure 2.3: A meeting with Sarpanch Keshubhai Patel, Chithroda Village
Gujarat ke firaq se hai khaar khaar dil
Betaab hai seenay mane atish bahar dil
Marham nahin hai iske zakhm ka jahan mane
Shamshir e hijr se jo hua hai figar dil
(My heart is thorn- filled with longing for Gujarat
Restless, frantic, flame- wrapped in the spring
On earth there exists no balm for its wound
My heart split asunder by the dagger of separation)
Vali Gujarati
Sufi saint-poet
Born in Ahmedabad circa 1650
Died in Ahmedabad 1707
Tomb razed February 28, 2002
“I always swerve a bit to the side to avoid driving over the spot where the mazaar stood. It wouldn’t feel right to go over it. I know other drivers do the same.”
Driver Shankar, while driving past the freshly tarred patch of road where Vali Gujarati’s mazaar had been for three hundred years. - March 30 2002.
Introduction
A six-member team of women from Delhi, Bangalore, Tamil Nadu and Ahmedabad undertook a five-day fact-finding mission from March 27 – March 31, 2002, to assess the impact of the continuing violence on minority women in Gujarat.
Other fact-finding teams have also visited Gujarat post-Godhra. However, given the particular targeting of women in this carnage, there was an urgent need for a sectoral investigation into how women in particular have been affected. The objective of the fact-finding was to determine the nature and extent of the crimes against women; find evidence of the role played by the police and other state institutions in protecting women; determine ‘new elements’ in the current spate of violence that distinguish it from previous rounds of communal violence in Gujarat; determine the role of organisations like the VHP and Bajrang Dal in both - the build-up to the current carnage as well as in actually unleashing the violence.
The team visited seven relief camps in both rural and urban areas (Ahmedabad, Kheda, Vadodra, Sabarkantha and Panchmahals districts) and spoke to a large number of women survivors. Ensuring that women’s voices are heard was a matter of priority for the entire team. The team also spoke to intellectuals, activists, members of the media, administration, and leaders from the BJP, including MLA Maya Kodnani, accused in an FIR in the Naroda Patia massacre. The fact-finding was conducted under conditions of continuing violence and curfew in many parts of the State.
We have been shaken and numbed by the scale and brutality of the violence that is still continuing in Gujarat. Despite reading news reports, we were unprepared for what we saw and heard; for fear in the eyes and anguish in the words of ordinary women whose basic human right to live a life of dignity has been snatched away from them.
Main Findings:
q The pattern of violence does not indicate “spontaneous” action. There was pre-planning, organization, and precision in the targeting.
q There is compelling evidence of sexual violence against women. These crimes against women have been grossly underreported and the exact extent of these crimes – in rural and urban areas - demands further investigation. Among the women surviving in relief camps, are many who have suffered the most bestial forms of sexual violence – including rape, gang rape, mass rape, stripping, insertion of objects into their body, stripping, molestations. A majority of rape victims have been burnt alive.
q There is evidence of State and Police complicity in perpetuating crimes against women. No effort was made to protect women. No Mahila Police was deployed. State and Police complicity in these crimes is continuing, as women survivors continue to be denied the right to file FIRs. There is no existing institutional mechanism in Gujarat through which women can seek justice.
q The impact on women has been physical, economic and psychological. On all three fronts there is no evidence of State efforts to help them.
q The state of the relief camps, as mothers struggle to keep their children alive in the most appalling physical conditions, is indicative of the continued abdication of the State’s responsibilities.
q Rural women have been affected by communal violence on this scale for the first time. There is a need for further investigation into the role played by particular castes/communities in rural Gujarat in unleashing violence.
q There is evidence that the current carnage was preceded by an escalation of tension and build-up by the VHP and the Bajrang Dal.
q There is an alarming trend towards ghettoisation of the Muslim community in rural areas for the first time.
q Sections of the Gujarati vernacular press played a dangerous and criminal role in promoting the violence, particularly in provoking sexual violence against women.
Section I
SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
The fact-finding team found compelling evidence of the most extreme form of sexual violence against women during the first few days of the carnage - in Ahmedabad on February 28th and March 1st and in rural areas up to March 3, 2002. The testimonies point to brutal and depraved forms of violence. The violence against minorities was pre-planned, organized and targeted. In every instance of large scale mob violence against the community in general, there was a regular pattern of violence against women. Given the fact that the data on crimes against women has not been systematically collected, it is impossible to ascertain the extent of the outrage. We believe, however, that crimes against women have been grossly under-reported. For instance, in Panchmahals district only one rape FIR has been filed, though we heard of many other cases. There has been a complete invisibilisation of the issue of sexual violence in the media[1].
The situation is compounded by the apathy of law-enforcement agencies and the indifference of political representatives. In our interview with Maya Kodnani, BJP MLA from Naroda Patia[2], where several brutal gang rapes and rapes of minor girls have been reported (see testimonies below) we found that she was indifferent, complacent and even bemused. When questioned about the reported rapes she said - Accha, kya ye sach hai? Suna hai. Ek police wale ne mujhe bataya ki aise hua hai par usne dekha nahin. (Is this true? One policeman mentioned this to me but he had not seen anything) She had not taken the trouble to investigate further, and clearly indicated no intent to do so.
Given the gravity of the situation, it is incomprehensible that until the writing of this report the National Commission for Women, mandated as the apex body for protection of women’s rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India, had not visited the State. This indicates a complete institutional breakdown as far as issues such as violence against women are concerned. As the District Collector of Panchmahals, clearly told us - ‘Maintaining Law and order is my primary concern. It is not possible for me to look into cases of sexual violence. If something is brought to my notice (like the Bilkees case, see below) I can take action, but nothing more than that. NGOs should take on this job. I would welcome their involvement.’
During our visits to the camps, we were besieged with detailed testimonies from rape victims themselves and from eyewitnesses - both activists and family members who witnessed the crime. For instance, in the short time we spent at Halol camp (Panchmahals district) we were able to get information about four incidents of rape. The fact-finding team also saw video footage where women spoke of witnessing rapes. In the film we saw slogans like - Muslims Quit India - or we will f*** your mothers - written on the walls of charred houses.
We reproduce below some of the testimonies that we were able to record.
A. Testimonies of Sexual Violence
WITNESSING MASS RAPE (INCLUDING MINOR GIRLS)
NARODA PATIA, AHMEDABAD, FEBRUARY 28, 2002[3]
“The mob started chasing us with burning tyres after we were forced to leave Gangotri society. It was then that they raped many girls. We saw about 8-10 rapes. We saw them strip 16-year-old Mehrunissa. They were stripping themselves and beckoning to the girls. Then they raped them right there on the road. We saw a girl’s vagina being slit open. Then they were burnt. Now there is no evidence.”
Source: Kulsum Bibi, Shah e Alam Camp, March 27, 2002
“I saw Farzana being raped by Guddu Chara. Farzana was about 13 years old. She was a resident of Hussain Nagar. They put a saria (rod) in Farzana’s stomach. She was later burnt. 12 year old Noorjahan was also raped. The rapists were Guddu, Suresh and Naresh Chara and Haria. I also saw Bhawani Singh, who works in the State Transport Department kill 5 men and a boy.”
Source: Azharuddin, 13 years. He witnessed the rapes while hiding on the terrace of Gangotri Society. The Chara basti is located just behind Jawan Nagar.
The mob, which came from Chara Nagar and Kuber Nagar, started burning people at around 6 in the evening. The mob stripped all the girls of the locality, including my 22-year-old daughter, and raped them. My daughter was engaged to be married. 7 members of my family were burnt including my wife (aged 40), my sons (aged 18, 14 and 7) and my daughters (aged 2, 4 and 22). My eldest daughter, who later died in the civil hospital, told me that those who raped her were wearing shorts. They hit her on the head and then burnt her. She died of 80% burn injuries.
Source: Abdul Usman, Testimony recorded by Citizens Initiative
SULTANI, A RAPE survivor, SPEAKS
VILLAGE ERAL, KALOL TALUKA, PANCHMAHALS DISTRICT, FEBRUARY 28th, 2002[4]
On the afternoon of February 28th to escape the violent mob, about 40 of us got on to a tempo, wanting to escape to Kalol. My husband Feroze was driving the tempo. Just outside Kalol a Maruti car was blocking the road. A mob was lying in wait. Feroze had to swerve. The tempo overturned. As we got out they started attacking us. People started running in all directions. Some of us ran towards the river. I fell behind as I was carrying my son, Faizan. The men caught me from behind and threw me on the ground. Faizan fell from my arms and started crying. My clothes were stripped off by the men and I was left stark naked. One by one the men raped me. All the while I could hear my son crying. I lost count after 3. They then cut my foot with a sharp weapon and left me there in that state.
Source: Sultani, Kalol Camp, Panchmahals District, March 30, 2002
Additional facts about the case:
· We had heard about Sultani’s case from her relatives in Halol camp. The details and sequence of events of both testimonies matched.
· Sultani has not undergone a medical examination. Her leg had been swollen for three weeks as a result of the injury inflicted by a sharp weapon, but it is healing now.
· No FIR has been filed though a written statement has been submitted to the DSP. In her statement she names some men from the mob (Jitu Shah, PDS Shop owner of Delol village; Ashok Patel alias Don Dadhi of Ramnath village)
· When we spoke with her and her sister-in-law they both said they were feeling numb and lost, as they did not know where to go from the Camp. She categorically stated that they could not go back to her village. She was terribly worried about the future especially her children’s. Sultani has still not been told that her husband had died in the attack. She believes he is missing.
A MOTHER’S ACCOUNT OF HER DAUGHTER’S RAPE
VILLAGE ERAL, KALOL TALUKA , PANCHMAHALS DISTRICT. MARCH 3, 2002[5]
My father-in-law, a retired schoolteacher, refused to leave the village with the other Muslim families who fled to Kalol on February 28th. He believed no one would harm us. From the 28th about 13 members of my family sought refuge in various people’s houses and the fields. On Sunday afternoon (March 3rd) the hut we were hiding in was attacked. We ran in different directions and hid in the field. But the mob found some of us and started attacking. I could hear various members of my family shouting for mercy as they were attacked. I recognized two people from my village - Gano Baria and Sunil - pulling away my daughter Shabana. She screamed, telling the men to get off her and leave her alone. The screams and cries of Ruqaiya, Suhana, Shabana, begging for their izzat could clearly be heard. My mind was seething with fear and fury. I could do nothing to help my daughter from being assaulted sexually and tortured to death. My daughter was like a flower, still to experience life. Why did they have to do this to her? What kind of men are these? The monsters tore my beloved daughter to pieces. After a while, the mob was saying “cut them to pieces, leave no evidence.” I saw fires being lit. After some time the mob started leaving. And it became quiet.
Source: Medina Mustafa Ismail Sheikh, Kalol camp, Panchmahals district, March 30, 2002
Additional facts about the case:
· Medina’s testimony has been corroborated by the other two living witnesses - Mehboob and Khushboo. Khushboo in her testimony also recounted how her grandfather (Medina’s father-in-law) and Huriben were killed. She also narrated how Ruqaiya’s pajamas were taken off and then one by one the men started “poking her in the lower part with their body”.
· We saw a copy of Medina’s FIR, where the police has charged 5 persons with murder under section 302. Charges of rape have not been included. The FIR uses the colloquial phrase ‘bura kaam’ rather than the specific term ‘rape’. We were also given the case report prepared by the camp leaders. The names of some of the accused are mentioned in the FIR.
GANG RAPE OF 25 YEAR OLD ZARINA: A HUSBAND’S ACCOUNT
HUSSAIN NAGAR, NARODA PATIA, AHMEDABAD. FEBRUARY 28, 2002
It started at 9 am on February 28th. That’s when the mobs arrived, shouting - Mian Bhai nikalo (Bring out the Muslims). Many of them were wearing kesari chaddis (saffron shorts or underwear) The mob included boys from the neighbouring buildings – Gopinath Society and Gangotri Society. I ran out of my house with the entire family – mother, father, sister, sister’s daughter, my wife Zarina, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my niece…there were 11 of us. We all ran towards the Police chowki. The Police said, ‘Go towards Gopinath and Gangotri’. In the melee, I was separated from my wife. What happened to her, she told me later. She tried to escape the mobs by leaping over a wall. But found herself in a cul-de-sac. They gang-raped her, and cut one arm. She was found naked. She was kept in the civil hospital for many days. Now she is recovering with her mother near the Khanpur darwaza.
Source: Naimuddin Ibrahim Sheikh, 30 year old husband of Zarina. Shah-e-Alam Camp, March 27, 2002. His family migrated from Gulbarga in Karnataka in 1971. He was born in Naroda. Naimmudin’s testimony was corroborated by Mumtaz, who was among the women who found Zarina naked in the maidan.
RAPE OF 13 YEAR OLD YASMIN
VILLAGE DELOL, PANCHMAHALS DISTRICT. MARCH 1, 2002
The extended families of Mohammad Bhai and Bhuri Behn – about 20 people - were chased by the mob to the river. Javed and another boy who managed to escape and hide behind a bush saw the mob kill Mohammad Bhai and rape Yasmin. They were about to kill the mother of the other boy who was hiding with him. So he screamed and ran out from behind the bush and was caught. He was made to walk around the dead bodies that were burnt (as if around a pyre) and he was then pushed into the fire.
Source: Women from Delol at Halol Camp, Panchmahals district, March 30, 2002. Javed, Mohammad Bhai’s nephew, had come to Delol to help his uncle. He had narrated this to several of the women from Delol. Javed has returned to his village, Desar.
STRIPPING AND BRUTALISING OF AN ENTIRE FAMILY, LIMKHEDA VILLAGE.
DHEROL STATION, HALOL TALUKA, PANCHMAHALS DISTRICT. FEBRUARY 28, 2002
35 year old Haseena Bibi Yasin Khan Pathan along with her entire extended family of 17 people ran from Limkheda on the morning of February 28th. At 7 am they caught the train from Limkheda Station, disembarked at Dherol Station at 10 am. That’s when they encountered the mob. Every one ran helter-skelter and the family got separated. Haseena, her husband, and young daughter managed to run towards Halol. Two children, Farzana (10 years old) and Sikandar (7 years old) escaped into the fields. Four boys – Ayub, (age 12), Mushtaq, (age 12), Mohsin, (age 10), and Shiraz (age 7) managed to hide behind bushes, and witnessed what happened. There was a large crowd. They were wearing pant-shirt and brandishing swords. According to Ayub, the mob caught his sister Afsana and cousins Zebu, Noorjehan, Sitara, Akbar, Rehana, Yusuf, Imran, Khatun (Aunt) and Zareef (brother). They were all stripped naked and made to run towards a nearby canal. That’s the last Ayub saw of them. The bodies turned up charred near the canal the following day. He doesn’t recognize the mob. No FIR has been lodged.
Source: Ayub, Halol Camp, Panchmahals district. The first part of the testimony is corroborated by his mother, Haseena Bibi.
ACTIVISTS’ EXPERIENCES OF DEALING WITH RAPE survivors
SHAH-E- ALAM RELIEF CAMP, AHMEDABAD.
Naseem and Mahmooda, from nearby Millat Nagar, work with Sahrwaru, a voluntary organization. They are presently working at the Shah Alam camp. They testified that many women arrived stark naked at the camp. Men took off their shirts to cover the women’s nakedness. Some could barely walk because of torn genitals as a result of gang rapes. While talking to them we met Zubeida Apa, an elderly woman who has witnessed girls being gang raped. Her trauma was writ large on her face. We did not dare to rake up her pain by asking her more questions. We were told about Najma Bano who was brought to the camp unconscious, her body covered with bites and nail marks. She was bleeding profusely. Pieces of wood, which had been shoved up her vagina were extricated by the women who dressed her wounds. Najma Bano herself was too traumatized to recount her own story. She says she does not remember anything, except being chased by the men from Gangotri Society. Accounts like these require further follow-up.
Source: Naseem and Mehmooda, Millat Nagar
The following testimonies have been taken from documentation supplied to the fact-finding team by Citizens Initiative, Ahmedabad:
MASS RAPE AND MURDER
NARODA PATIA. FEBRUARY 28, 2002[6]
By now it was 6.30 in the evening. The mob caught my husband and hit him on his head twice with the sword. Then they threw petrol in his eyes and then burned him. My sister-in- law was stripped and raped. She had a three-month old baby in her lap. They threw petrol on her and the child was taken from her lap and thrown in the fire. My brother-in-law was also struck on the head with the sword and thrown in the fire. We were at the time hiding on the terrace of a building. My mother-in-law was unable to climb the stairs so she was on the ground floor with her four-year-old grandson. She told them to take away whatever money she had but to spare the children. They took away all the money and jewelry, then burnt the children with petrol. My mother-in-law was raped too. I witnessed all this. Unmarried girls from my street were stripped, raped and burnt. A 14-year-old girl was killed by piercing an iron rod into her stomach. The mayhem ended at 2.30 am. Then the ambulance came and I sat in it along with bodies of my husband and children. I have injury marks on my both my thighs and left hand, which were caused by the police beating. My husband (48 % burns), my daughter (95 % burns) both died in the hospital after three days. The police was on the spot but they were helping the mob. We fell at their feet but they said they were ordered from above not to help. Since the telephone wires were snapped we could not inform the fire brigade.
Source: Jannat Sheikh, testimony to Citizens Initiative.
BILKEES: ACCOUNT OF A RAPE Survivor
RANDHIKPUR VILLAGE, DISTRICT DAHOD[7]. MARCH 3, 2002
Twenty-one year old Bilkees was five months pregnant. When Muslim houses in her village were attacked on February 28th, by a mob comprising upper caste people from her own village and some outsiders, she and several of her family members fled. For two days they ran from village to village. At a mosque near Kuajher, her cousin Shamim, delivered a baby. But there was no respite for them. They had to leave immediately, including Shamim who could barely walk, carrying her newborn baby.
On March 3rd we had started moving towards Panivela village, which was in a remote and hilly area. Suddenly we heard the sound of a vehicle. A truck came with people from our own village and outsiders too. We realised that they had not come to help us. They stopped us and then the madness started. They pulled my baby from my arms and threw her away. The other women and I were taken aside and raped. I was raped by three men. I was screaming all the time. They beat me and then left me for dead. When I regained consciousness I found I was alone. All around me were the dead bodies of my family, my baby girl, the newborn baby, their bodies were covered with the rocks and boulders used to kill them. I lay there the whole night and most of the next day. I do not know when I was conscious and when unconscious. Later I was found by a police squad from Limkheda police station .I was taken to the hospital and then brought to the Godhra Camp.
Testimony to AIDWA and Anandi
Additional facts about the case:
· Her FIR has been filed and a medical examination done on the insistence of the District collector, Jayanti Ravi, even though six-days had passed. Rape has been confirmed.
· She has named the people who killed her family members and those who raped her: Sailesh Bhatt, Mithesh Bhatt, Vijay Maurya, Pradeep Maurya, Lala Vakil, Lala Doctor, Naresh Maurya, Jaswant Nai and Govind Nai (the last three gang-raped her)
· Initially all her family members were missing. Her father and husband have been traced to another camp at Dahod and her brother, Saeed, is with her in Godhra.
A META-NARRATIVE OF BESTIALITY
“But what they did to my sister-in-law’s sister Kausar Bano was horrific and heinous. She was 9 months pregnant. They cut open her belly, took out her foetus with a sword and threw it into a blazing fire. Then they burnt her as well.”
Source: Saira Banu, Naroda Patia (recorded at the Shah-e-Alam Camp on March 27th, 2002).
During our fact-finding mission, we were to hear this story many times. We read about it in other fact-finding reports. We were told about it by many survivors at the Shah-e-Alam camp. Sometimes the details would vary – the foetus was dashed to the ground, the foetus was slaughtered with a sword, the foetus was swung on the point of the sword and then thrown into a fire. Each teller of the story owned it. It was as if it was their own story. Were these simply the fevered imaginings of traumatized minds? We think not. Kausar’s story has come to embody the numerous experiences of evil that were felt by the Muslims of Naroda Patia on February 28, 2002. In all instances where extreme violence is experienced collectively, meta-narratives are constructed. Each victim is part of the narrative; their experience subsumed by the collective experience. Kausar is that collective experience – a meta-narrative of bestiality; a meta-narrative of helpless victimhood. There are a thousand Kausars.
Members of the fact-finding team have seen photographic evidence of the burnt bodies of a mother and a foetus lying on the mother’s belly, as if torn from the uterus and left on the gash. We do not know if that was Kausar Bano.
B. Sexual Violence and the Media
In many ways women have been the central characters in the Gujarat carnage, and their bodies the battleground. The Gujarati vernacular press has been the agent provocateur. The story starts with Godhra, where out of the 58 Hindus burnt, 26 were women and 14 children. But to really arouse the passions of the Hindu mob, death is not enough. Far worse than death is the rape of Hindu women – for it is in and on the bodies of these women that the izzat (honour) of the community is vested. So on February 28th, Sandesh, a leading Gujarati Daily, in addition to reporting the Godhra tragedy in provocative language, also ran a story on Page 1 saying the following: “10-15 Hindu women were dragged away by a fanatic mob from the railway compartment”. The same story was repeated on Page 16 with the heading “Mob dragged away 8-10 women into the slums”. The story was entirely false. The Police denied the incident, and other newspapers, including the Times of India could not find confirmation of this news. A day later, on March 1, 2002 Sandesh carried a follow-up to this false story on Page 16 with the heading – “Out of kidnapped young ladies from Sabarmati Express, dead bodies of two women recovered – breasts of women were cut off.” [8] Violation of Hindu honour was now compounded by extreme sexual violence and bestiality. Both the abduction and the cutting of breasts were lies - totally baseless stories, which were denied by the Police. The fact-finding team was told that later Sandesh did publish a small retraction, buried in some corner of its pages. But the damage had been done. The murder and rape of Hindu women, emblazoned in banner headlines across the vernacular press became the excuse, the emotional rallying point, the justification for brutalizing Muslim women and children in ways not ever seen in earlier communal carnages. Unhonne hamari auraton aur bachchon par hamla kiya hai. Badla to lena tha (they have attacked our women and children we had to take revenge) – goes the sentiment of the angry Hindu. The newspaper literally became a weapon of war. According to a series of eyewitness accounts from Naroda Patia, the worst affected area in Ahmedabad, the mobs who attacked Muslim shops, homes, and brutalized Muslim women and children, were brandishing in their hands not only swords and stones, but copies of the Sandesh with the Godhra attack as the banner headline, shouting “khoon ka badla khoon” (blood for blood).
This one false story about the rape and brutalizing of Hindu women has spread like wildfire across Gujarat, almost assuming proportions of folklore. It now rests easily in the annals of undisputed common knowledge, and cannot be dislodged. Where ever the fact-finding team went, we heard some version of this story, spreading through word of mouth, through the channels of overworked rumour mills – sometimes it was 10 Hindu women raped, sometimes it was 6 Hindu women – but the essential contours remained the same. In one place we heard details like “The Muslims took the Hindu women to their madrasa and gang-raped them there.” Because the madrasa is the site of learning, raping women there projects the perpetrators as truly bestial men to whom nothing is sacred. In another village, “Hindu women” had been replaced by “Adivasi women” and this was given as the justification for Adivasi participation in the attacks on Muslims.
When the fact-finding team met Aziz Tankarvi, editor of Gujarat Today, known to represent the Muslim voice’ He said clearly. “ Murder ho jata hai, chot lagti hai, to aadmi chup sahan kar leta hai, lekin agar maa, behen, beti ke saath ziyadti hoti hai to voh jawaab dega, badla lega.” (When someone is murdered you are hurt. But man can bear it quietly; it is when your mothers and daughters are violated, then he definitely responds, takes revenge). The fact that rape is perceived in this manner (as violating the honour of men, and not the integrity of women) is problematic in and of itself. What is particularly heinous is the fact that the Sandesh newspaper should fabricate stories of sexual violence, and use images of brutalized women’s bodies as a weapon of war; in terrible ways deliberately designed to provoke real violence against women from the Muslim community. What provocative lies a la Sandesh do, is to provide justification for the carnage – both in the minds of the mobs who carry out the violence, and in the minds of the general “Hindu” public which may be far removed from the site of the violence.
Ironically while false stories about the rape of Hindu women have done the rounds, there has been virtual silence in the media, including in the English language papers, about the real stories of sexual violence against Muslim women. Barring Gujarat Today, none of the Gujarati vernacular papers has carried stories about the brutal, bestial ways in which Muslim women were raped and burnt. Even Gujarat Today, despite being sympathetic to the Muslim experience, could only supply us with one clipping where the brutal experience of rape has been written about. The Times of India, since the beginning of the carnage, until April 1,2002, carried only one story about rape. The excuse was March 8th, International Women’s Day (TOI, 9/3/02, “Women’s Day Means Nothing for Rape Riot Victims”). When members of the fact-finding team spoke to senior journalists in Ahmedabad, their explanation was that rape stories are provocative, and that in the early days of the violence, they had to play a socially responsible role, and not incite more violence. But in the weeks that followed, the Press has continued to do self-censorship about rape stories.[9]
We find that, yet again Muslim women are being victimized twice over. They have suffered the most unimaginable forms of sexual abuse during the Gujarat carnage. And yet, there is no one willing to tell their stories to the world. Women’s bodies have been employed as weapons in this war – either through grotesque image-making or as the site through which to dishonour men, and yet women are being asked to bear all this silently. Women do not want more communal violence. But peace cannot be bought at the expense of the truth, or at the expense of women’s right to tell the world what they have suffered in Gujarat.
SCARS ON THE MIND
Saira age 12, Afsana, age 11, Naina, age 12, Anju, age 12, Rukhsat, age 9, Nilofer, age 10, Nilofer, age 9, Hena, age 11
They’re all survivors from the horrors of Naroda Patia in Ahmedabad where more than 80 people were burnt alive and many women raped and maimed in what is probably the worst carnage in the current spiral of violence. The girls are young and making sense of what they have seen and heard seems impossible. But they have been scarred for life, their trust in Hindus shattered. They speak of ‘evil Hindus’. The Hindu who burnt our home. The Hindu who didn’t let us escape.
Some of them have seen with their eyes things no child should see. Others have only heard things. But they are still things no child should hear. “Hinduon ne bura kaam kiya”(Hindus have done ‘bad things’ – a euphemism for rape), they tell us, as their eyes shift uneasily. They look at each other as if seeking silent affirmation of what none of them really comprehended.
Or, did they?
“Balatkaar” (Rape) – they know this word. “Mein bataoon Didi” (Shall I tell you?), volunteers a nine year old, “Balatkaar ka matlab jab aurat ko nanga karte hain aur phir use jala deta hain.” (Rape is when a woman is stripped naked and then burnt) And then looks fixedly at the floor. Only a child can tell it like it is. For this is what happened again and again in Naroda Patia – women were stripped, raped and burnt. Burning has now become an essential part of the meaning of rape.
Hindus hate us, they say.
Why?
Because we celebrate all their festivals – we play Holi, we love patakas at Diwali, but the Hindus can’t celebrate our festivals. That’s why they’re jealous. So jealous that this year they did not even let us take out Tazia processions (in fact the decision to not allow tazia processions on the 10th of Moharram was taken by the Muslim community itself, for fear of violence).
These girls became friends only in the camp, although they all grew up and lived in Naroda Patia. Now they will probably share a life-long unspoken bond of victim-hood. But they are children still. Resilient. Survivors. Their eyes still bright and curious. They even giggle occasionally, as they follow us around Shah-e-Alam, scampering easily over human beings scattered like debris around the relief camp. But will they ever forget? Will Naina, who once had scores of Hindu friends, have them again? Will she trust again?
Venue: Shah-e-Alam Relief Camp, Ahmedabad
Date: March 27, 2002
Section II
WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES OF THE STATE
A. POLITICAL COMPLICITY
“Arre ye Narendra Modi ne hi sab kuch kiya. Hamara zindagi barbaad kiya.” (That Narendra Modi, he did all this. He is the one who has ruined our lives) This is how the Muslim women of Gujarat see their Chief Minister - as the man who has ruined their lives forever. “Sarkar” (Government)? “What sarkar, they ask?” In the words of countless women who have been devastated by the continuing violence, the State of Gujarat had simply disappeared when they needed it most. The State – including elected representatives, the political executive, the administration, and the police – abdicated its responsibility to protect all its citizens. Far worse, it actively connived in the maiming, raping, and butchering of hundreds of women and children of Gujarat. More than five weeks after the post-Godhra carnage began, no effort is being made to ensure punishment of the guilty. FIRs are not being lodged, compensation not given. The relief camps are running only through the efforts of the Muslim community, with occasional help from the government. Narendra Modi visited the Shah-e-Alam relief camp (among the largest, housing over 10,000 refugees) for the first time when he accompanied the PM on April 4th, 2002.
MAYA KODNANI, BJP MLA
The fact-finding team met Maya Kodnani, the BJP MLA from Naroda Patia, one of the worst affected areas in Ahmedabad. She has also been named in an FIR as having participated in the Naroda Patia carnage on February 28th, 2002.
Ø She showed no remorse at the State abdicating responsibility. There was nothing the State could do, she says. “There was a natural ghrina (hatred) and aakrosh (anger) in the heart of every Hindu and we could not control it.”
Ø Maya Kodnani’s estimates of the size of the mobs that attacked Naroda Patia (50,000 to 1 lakh) far exceed the largest estimates given by eyewitnesses to the mob violence. Her claim, therefore, that the Police were “utterly helpless” in the face of this flood of anger, appeared untenable.
Ø Maya Kodnani found time to visit Ahmedabad Station to receive bodies of the Godhra victims, who are not her constituents. But not once in over a month has she found time to visit the Muslim relief camps, where thousands of her constituents are strewn around like human debris.
Ø Ms. Kodnani denies even knowing where all her Muslim constituents have fled.
Ø She also denies any knowledge about the large number of rapes having occurred at Naroda Patia during the mayhem.
Ø She admitted that only 16 people were arrested in the Naroda Patia incidents, out of which only 5 or 6 remain in jail, while the rest have been released on bail.
Ø Maya Kodnani claims that this kind of communal violence is part of Gujarat ki prakruti and Gujarat ki taasir. It is a natural part of life, and should be accepted as such.
Ø She dismissed the FIR lodged against her as being false merely because it was filed 18 days after the violence. She claimed that Doordarshan had footage proving that she was elsewhere at the time.
(A detailed account of the conversation with Maya Kodnani is attached in Annexure 2.1)
NATHIBEHN: MAHILA SARPANCH
Another case of State participation in the violence was provided by Laxmipura Village in Khed Brahma Taluka of Sabarkantha District. The fact-finding team visited this village because it had a Mahila Sarpanch, Nathibehn, whose husband and son have been identified as leading the mobs who torched Muslim homes on the evening of February 27th, 2002. .
Ø Nathibehn was clearly only a puppet Sarpanch. The de-facto Sarpanch was her husband Jitu Bhai Patel.
Ø Jitu Bhai Patel and his son Ramesh Patel (both members of the local VHP unit) justified the torching of Muslim homes, saying Godhra was the beginning and that Muslims always start everything, never the Hindus. They also claimed that Muslims from almost every village in Gujarat had gone to participate in the Godhra ‘murders’.
Ø The entire family – Nathibehn, Jitu Bhai, and Ramesh expressed a great deal of hatred for Muslims, and said that Muslims could only live in the village if they followed village tradition i.e. shaved their beards, stopped wearing caps etc.
Ø Sarpanch Nathibehn denied knowing the whereabouts of the Muslims who have been forced to flee Laxmipura.
(A detailed account of the discussions in Laxmipura is attached as Annexure 2.2)
KESHUBHAI PATEL, SARPANCH
While there are examples of elected representatives actively participating or condoning violence against Muslims, blaming it on an “unstoppable flood of Hindu anger”, the fact-finding team also found evidence that where State actors chose to protect Muslims, they managed to do so successfully. Chithroda Village in Khed Brahma Taluka provides an example. Here the Sarpanch Keshubhai Patel claims that he got anonymous phone calls from mob leaders trying to assess the level of support inside the village for their entry. He refused to allow the mobs to enter his village, or harm the 40 odd Muslim families in any way.
(A detailed account of the discussion with Sarpanch Keshubhai Patel is attached as Annexure 2.3).
The fact-finding team was convinced that mob violence was unleashed only in those areas where the mobs were sure of getting full support from local leaders and the state machinery.
B. ROLE OF THE POLICE
This time round in Gujarat, far more than in previous episodes of communal violence, women have been fair game. Forced out of burning homes, running for their lives on violent streets, they have been targeted not only by rampaging mobs hell bent on hurting every Muslim woman, man and child in sight, but far worse, by the Police, whose job it was to protect them. Just as the mobs sought revenge on behalf of Hindu women (refer previous section on Sexual Violence) so too it appears did the Police. This we have on the word of Gujarat’s Chief Minister – ‘Police are human beings as well’, he said, shortly after the carnage began, ‘and not inured to the sentiments of society’. Everywhere the fact-finding team went, women narrated graphic, first-hand tales of police complicity.
Ø Several accounts speak of policemen actively aiding, abetting, and in some cases leading the mobs. Video footage seen by the fact-finding team showed slogan’s like, Yeh andar ki baat hai, Police hamare saath hai (The inside story is that the police is on our side) – written boldly on the walls of gutted Muslim homes.
Ø A pattern that was often repeated was that the Police would open fire at the Muslims rather than at the mob, which was attacking them.
Ø In other cases, the police turned a deaf ear to cries of help, or simply told women, in so many words, that they did not have ‘orders from above’ to help them. Women and children were repeatedly turned away from Police chowkis and stations and told to fend for themselves.
Ø At best, the Police would take a crowd of frightened Muslims and dump them in safer Muslim majority areas. The message was clear – ‘Protecting Muslims is not our responsibility; Other Muslims can look after them’. Muslims were no longer citizens of the state.
Ø In no instance did the fact-finding team hear of Mahila Police being deployed in areas where women were being brutalized.
Ø In a vast majority of the cases, FIRs have not been lodged. Several accounts say that the Police simply refuse to lodge the FIR, saying, ‘you don’t have enough evidence, there is no case’.
Ø Victims of sexual violence do not even have the confidence to approach the Police, let alone walk the long path to evidence gathering, and getting justice. In the words of one Muslim woman, “Yeh to Hinduon ki Police hai” (`This is a Hindu Police’).
Ø Muslim women surviving in relief camps across the state are not the only ones who dread the Police. Outside the camps, in several Muslim dominated areas in Ahmedabad, they live in forced imprisonment and constant terror of another kind. Curfew has been imposed in these areas, including Millat Nagar, visited by the fact-finding team. Under the guise of ‘combing operations’ the Police are picking up young Muslim boys at random. Mothers live in constant fear.
Ø In order to protect their men, women are being forced to venture out of their homes for daily chores, and encountering the Police. The fact-finding team heard specific accounts of continuing police atrocities - of women being severely beaten or killed in Police firing.
However, even in its worst moment, there remained in Gujarat isolated pockets of calm where the police and the administration stood firm, giving the lie to the theory that the post-Godhra carnage was an unstoppable case of spontaneous communal combustion. For example, no casualties have been reported from Panchmahals District since March 5th, including in Godhra town where the spiral of violence first started and which has a long history of communal tension. The fact-finding team believes that this is in large part due to the sincere efforts of the District Collector Jayanti Ravi in ensuring that law and order is maintained.
WOMEN’S TESTIMONIES OF THE ROLE OF the STATE
Shabnam, Resident of Vatva, Ahmedabad
Date of incident: March 1, 2002
Shabnam, 23, recounted the events of the afternoon of March 1: “The mob arrived, armed with trishuls and swords, shouting - Miya ne maro, Miya ne kato. (Kill the Muslims!). Some of them started pelting stones. We were 50 odd people, they were a few thousand. As we ran for our lives, the police blocked our escape, chasing us in the direction of the mob `Chalo maar do saalo ko’ (Kill the basta**rds!), they shouted. This is the first time this has happened here. Where can we go? What is to become of us?”
(Qutb-e-Alam Dargah Relief Camp, Vatva, Ahmedabad. March 27, 2002)
Saira Bano, Resident of Khed Brahma town, Sabarkantha.
Date of Incident: February 28, 2002
It was 9:30 in the morning when the attack started. A large crowd came at us. They were all our neighbours. I recognize each one of them – I know the castes: Bhatt, Vaghri, Prajapat. We ran to the Police Station. The Police gave us shelter, but said that they could not protect us for long. They put us in dabba gaadis (police box-cars) and packed us off into the care of local Muslim leaders in Vadali. That’s how we landed up at the relief camp.
(Vadali Relief Camp, March 28th, 2002)
Kulsum Bibi and Jannat Bibi, Residents of Jawan Nagar, Naroda Patia, Ahmedabad.
Date of incident: February 28, 2002
The day began like any other. We were all drinking tea when we heard that the (local) masjid had been attacked. The men and boys went out to see what was happening. They were confronted by a crowd of several thousands, armed with trishuls and swords. Some of the swords had Bajrang Dal written on it. They were wearing khakhi shorts. Some were carrying petrol. This we now know they had got from nearby Bipin Auto. The owner is a Bajrang Dal agyavan (leader). The trucks that had brought these men were stacked with gas cylinders…Suddenly the police fired. Some of our men were killed in the firing. The women and children started fleeing. Our colony is sandwiched between the State Reserve Police (SRP) Colony, the State Transport workshop and the Hindu housing societies- Gopinath and Gangotri. We all rushed towards the SRP Colony. We were not allowed inside. We begged but the gates remained shut. We kept running back and forth like caged animals. Then there was a lathi charge. Many of us got hit. We heard the police say things like - yeh aap logon ka aakhri din hai - (this is your last day).
(Shah-e-Alam Relief camp, Ahmedabad. March 27, 2002)
Saira Bano, Resident Navapura, Vatva, Ahmedabad
The maidan was full of thousands of trishul and sword wielding men. I have never seen so many people. Everyone was panicking. We lost all hope when the police came with the crowd. When we pleaded with the police that they were meant to protect everyone, they told us- “Tum lad lo. Jitni takat hain mukabala kar lo”. (You fight them with whatever strength you have.)
(Qutb-e-Alam Relief Camp, Vatva, Ahmedabad. March 27, 2002)
Saira Bano, Resident Hussain Nagar, Naroda Patia, Ahmedabad
Date of Incident: February 28, 2002
Saira used to live in Hussain Nagar Chali in Naroda Patia. She is now at the camp with her 3 children. “I heard girls screaming. I saw a naked girl running with 25 men chasing her. The sweet shop owner was distributing sweets to the rioters. The police fired on the Muslims rather than the mob”. She said that women were beaten with sticks. She saw her husband being killed in the police firing. She was hiding on the terrace of someone’s house. “At least I saw him die. There are many women here who don’t know what has happened to their husbands. Are they widows or not? Should they mourn or not?”
(Shah-e-Alam Relief Camp, Ahmedabad. March 27, 2002)
Nagori Bibi, Resident Khed Brahma near State Transport bus stand, Sabarkantha District.
Date of incident: February 28, 2002
The tension escalated and the mob (which she estimated as being over 2000) started throwing stones. By about 12 noon about 50 -60 people were taking refuge in her house. 25 of these people belonged to her extended family. Her brother-in-law then phoned the police to be told - “We neither have the time nor the staff. We can’t come”. They then phoned Amanullah Khan the local Muslim leader and also a member of the Congress. It was only after he put pressure on the police that they came.
(Vadali Relief Camp, Sabarkantha. March 28, 2002)
Shamshad Bibi, Resident Khed Brahma (near dargah), Sabarkantha.
Date of incident: February 28, 2002.
On February 27th when my sons went to the dargah they heard rumours that a dhamal (incident) was about to take place. There were other rumours of impending tension. 4 families slept at the dargah that night. In fact 2 policemen were posted outside. “Now when I look back the police had come around asking questions about the Muslim residents, like how much cattle we possessed.” One policeman asked – “Mutton vutton milega kya?” Nothing happened that night. I was cooking lunch the next day when the mobs came shouting - Maro, Maro (Kill! Kill!) They were carrying trishuls. We ran. We had to cross the river, which is dry. Finally we reached the dargah. I found many other Muslims there. About 300 to 400 of us were cramped into a room. Then they came and set fire to the dargah wall. The police was around but did not stop the crowd. In fact we could hear them shouting looto! All we could do was pray. The police squad finally came and took us to the Police Station. We could hear them talking on the wireless – sab tod diya, phod diya. (everything is broken, destroyed) Then suddenly we were told - chale jao nahin to police station ko jala denge. (Go from here or they will burn down the police station)
(Vadali Relief Camp. Sabarkantha. March 28, 2002)
Farzana: Resident of Vatva, Ahmedabad (Story narrated by her sister-in-law Naim)
Date of Incident: March 20, 2002.
Farzana, 25, lived behind the Dargah. She was shot dead by the police on the 20th of March. Her family members said: “First, we heard a commotion outside. Then we noticed a pall of smoke. As we came out into the courtyard to check what was happening, the police fired indiscriminately, killing Farzana. There were no men around as they had all gone to read the namaaz”. Among the policemen identified by the residents of the area are SP KC Patel, PSI Baluch, PSI Siddiq Sheikh and PI Singh. “The Hindu mobs were gathering near Ashopalo housing society, some distance away. Par Police ne wahan nahin, hamare par hi attack kar diya. (But instead of going there, the Police came here and started firing). In the same shooting spree a young man Sikandar, 20, was killed. Six others, including Mumtaz Bano, were wounded. She is a polio victim. Her neighbours are bewildered. “Why shoot at a handicapped girl? Poor thing had one bad leg, now she has two damaged legs.” Farzana’s older sister, Shahnaz Bano, was lathi charged when she came out to save her sister. Shahnaz is angry and bitter. “How can they enter our homes and kill us. We only ask for one thing - insaaf”
We saw the bullet holes in the wall and the memorial they had made for Farzana. A crumpled dupatta marks the spot in the courtyard where Farzana first fell. An aluminium pot covers the spot where she died.
(Vatva, Ahmedabad. March 27, 2002)
Naseem and Ameena, Residents of Bahar Colony (an upper middle class colony) Vadodora
Date of Incident: March 17, 2002
When the fact-finding team arrived there shortly before noon, the road was deserted since the area was under curfew. Only women were allowed to venture out in the day. On the main road we were met by one of the residents, Naseem. She told us of the events of March 17.
The mob came at 11 PM but could not enter the colony because of police patrolling. Then they retuned at 3 PM the next day. First, they blasted a godown. Then they began to burn the few jhonpar pattis’ (slum dwellings) nearby. These were owned by some Hindu families who had already been evacuated. Suddenly police jeeps were seen. 200-300 women tried to stop the police jeeps. It is alleged that the police just went ahead saying Ab to yahan aisa chalay ga!’ (From now on, this is the way it will go here).Then they returned and started firing during which one bystander was shot. Since the women were outside on the road, the police started beating them with lathis to herd them inside. Amina Haroon Memon was one such woman.
Amina took us aside, removed her shalwar and showed the laceration mark from the police danda. ‘They hit me even as I was trying to get back inside my house. And such filthy gaalis. We went out to call the police because if our boys would have gone they would have forcibly taken them away. Even if I die it does not matter. I am forty plus. But not the young boys, they have a life ahead. The people who come they have ‘sadhan’ (arms) we have nothing.’
(Vadodra. March 28, 2002)
Testimonies of Continuing Fear, Ajwa Road, Vadodara
This is a Muslim area consisting of several 8 or 9 storey buildings. We went into the house of Daud Shaikh where about 20 women had collected. First they told us about the Best Bakery massacre which has been recorded in detail by Sahiyar, an NGO working in Vadodara. Maimuna Shaikh told us that they were running a Chinese fast food business but everything is at a standstill for the past month. Maimuna’s daughter-in-law Farhana, an outspoken young woman, spoke to us about the daily harassment. ‘The mobs come on motorcycles. We can’t recognize them because of the helmets. They threaten us. At night they clang the thalis, clang the electricity poles, whistle. We have not slept for one month, so acute is the tension. When the ‘tola’ (mob) comes the Police are at the vanguard. Maimuna’s young son was picked up by the Police. Zehra, who was 3 months pregnant had gone out with the women to plead with the Police not to take him away. She showed us the spot where she was hit with a Police danda (stick).
(Vadodara, March 28th, 2002)
Testimonies of women whose young sons have been picked up in combing operations, Millat Nagar, Ahmedabad.
There is curfew in the area. As a result, daily wage earners, small shop owners, vendors, tailors, butchers have all been unemployed for over a month. Adding to this forced imprisonment, and virtual destitution is the atmosphere of terror – because the Police have started ‘combing operations’ in Muslim dominated areas, picking up young Muslim boys at random. So acute is this fear of the Police that even for small tasks to be done outside the home women venture out more rather than men. No one knows why and under what charge these young men are being arrested.
The fact-finding team met 5 mothers in Millat Nagar, in the offices of Sahrwaru, an NGO, which has been working in the area for several years. Their sons were picked up by the police during a combing operation on March 21st, 2002- Bugo Bibi’s son Akeel Khan, age 22; Badla Bibi’s son, Arif, age 20; Noorjehan’s son Saleem, age 25; Abida’s son Imran, age 18; Ammu Bibi’s son, Feroz Khan, age 20. The families do not know what the charges are. All that the distraught mothers can say is “Combing mein le gaye mere bete ko” (They took away my son in combing). They weep all the time, dying a thousand deaths a day not knowing if their son’s are alive or not. Every day they come to the Sahrwaru office trying to find ways to get a bail hearing for their sons. Life, said one, means - “Na din ko neend, na raat ko. Na rozi, na roti, na chain”. ( No sleep during the day or night. No income, no food, no peace) That’s life in Gujarat today if you are the mother of a young Muslim boy.
(Sahrwaru Office, Millat Nagar, March 27th, 2002)
A COMMON MAN’S IMPRESSION
Shankar our driver for one day felt that the attacks on Muslims were justified because of Godhra. However, he was equally clear that it had all been possible because the Government and Police had been on the side of the Hindus and that it was an organized attack. “Hindu sarkar hain to Hinduon ki madad karenge.” (It is a Hindu government so naturally they will help the Hindus). On the role of the police he said - “ Police ko jaan bujh kar shaant jagah mein bhej diya.” (They knowingly deployed the police in the relatively peaceful areas). On the behaviour of the police - “jahan tola tha vahan police bachke nikle.” (Where there were mobs the police carefully avoided those areas).
Shankar, Resident of Chamunda bridge area, Ahmedabad
A MEETING WITH POLICE SUB-INSPECTOR PATIL,
INCHARGE OF KALOL POLICE STATION,
KALOL TALUKA, PANCHMAHALS DISTRICT, MARCH 30, 2002
PSI Patil and DySP Parmar had both been named by Muslims in Kalol as having led the mobs who burnt and looted. Jamadar Uday Singh, Badge # 1272 was identified as having started burning a Muslim owned vehicle. Kalol has one of the highest death tolls in Panchmahals (26 dead: 23 Muslims and 3 Hindus). The taluka has also reported extreme brutality against women (Ref: Sultani’s testimony in Section 1 on Sexual Violence).
As the interview progressed, PSI Patil’s initially confident attitude was replaced by suspicion and defensiveness. He was also joined by other policemen, including a policewoman. She said that during this period she was always in the office and had not been assigned “field duty”. PSI Patil denied playing any role in the violence. And to prove his impartiality he kept mentioning an incident where he saved 15 Muslims from a crowd of over 4000 near Jethral station. He also justified the high death toll by stating that the situation could not be controlled as it was a natural reaction to Godhra. 4 karsevaks who died on the Sabarmati express were from Kalol taluka, from nearby Bhadroli village. Among the dead were a mother and child. This image had a deep impact on the people and they reacted. The extent of outpouring was such that the police could have done nothing. They had not anticipated this therefore there was inadequate “bandobast”.
When told that many victims claim they are being refused the right to lodge FIRs, he hotly denied this, and said, proudly that Kalol Station had lodged 13 FIRs. We asked for details of these FIRs. Closer examination revealed that only 6 FIRs had been lodged by victims. 7 FIRs had been lodged by the State with Patil himself as the complainant. The State FIRs were an eyewash – since the accused in each FIR was simply written as ‘tola’ (mob). Obviously not a single arrest has been made in these State FIRs. We examined the other 6 FIRs:
-
Complainant: Medina Bibi, Eral. Out of the 39 named as accused, only 13 have been arrested -
Complainant: Arvind Bhai Parmar. Out of 5 Muslims accused, all have been arrested. -
Complainant: Ilyas. No arrests -
Complainant: Ahmed Haji Mohammed: Out of 10 named as accused, none have been arrested. -
Complainant: Shiraz Abdul: 4 arrests -
Musa Bhai Sheikh: Out of 2 accused, none have been arrested.
One Muslim died and 3-4 were injured when the Police fired to control a volatile situation that arose when 3 Hindus were stabbed on the 27 of February. The firing was done by Dy SP Parmar, who many testified as having seen leading the mobs. However, when the firing was against large Hindu mobs there were no deaths. We asked PSI Patil how was it possible that when firing at a large mob, the Police did not manage to injure even a single person? He smiled and said Yeh to chance ki baat hai (It’s all a matter of chance).
There is a clearly a long road ahead to justice, rehabilitation and recovery for the victims of Gujarat. The fact-finding team tried to meet Mr. Kumaraswami, who is in charge of the Human Rights Cell in the office of the DG Police. Although too busy to meet the team because of the PM’s impending visit, he agreed to a phone interview. He was asked to comment on the charge made by almost every victim met by the team that the Police was aiding, abetting and colluding with the looting and marauding mobs – what action was being taken on these charges? What action was the Human Rights Cell proposing on the evidence of several cases of rape? What, according to him, should have been the role of the Mahila Police, in preventing sexual violence?. Mr. Kumaraswami’s responses were that he was simply a part of the DG’s office, working as a bridge between the NHRC and the DG. His office merely laid down the policy about women police, and about other human rights aspects. Since he was not a field officer he did not have answers for the rest of the questions.
The fact-finding team was concerned that with the total collapse of the State machinery in Gujarat, there was no alternative institutional mechanism in Gujarat through which women could seek justice. Gujarat does not have a State Commission for Women, and until the writing of this report, the National Commission for Women had chosen not to visit the State.
Section III
IN THE WAKE OF VIOLENCE
The violence in Gujarat has left in its wake deprivation, despondency, and desperation. Islands of survivors huddle together across the state in miserable relief camps, in both urban and rural areas. They have become a truly ghettoised people, in body and mind. Betrayed by neighbours and friends, left for dead by the State, they trust only each other. Ghettoisation, once only an urban scourge, is now the rural future as well. Sudden economic destitution is hitting women hard - those who have lost the family income earner, look at their children with despair and fear for their future. Single women and widows, who had acquired economic independence, now rely on community patriarchs for survival. Their life savings are burnt. Meanwhile VHP/Bajrang Dal workers roam the countryside, free from fear of punishment. Women activists who need to be out there, helping rape survivors, speaking to widows, giving relief, lodging FIRs, work under constant threat to their lives. And a discredited Government speaks of setting up Peace Committees.
A. VISITING THE CAMPS
There are over a 100,000 refugees in Gujarat today, among them many women and children. The fact-finding team visited 7 relief camps in both urban and rural areas.
Relief Camp No. of Women
No. of Men
No. of Children
Total*
Shah-e-Alam (Urban)
2744
3008
4755
10,537
Qutb-e-Alam (Urban)
378
355
495
1228
Ramayan (Rural)
128
142
153
423
Memdabad (Rural)
500 (approx)
500 (approx)
500 (approx)
1500 (approx)
Vadali (Rural)
620
560
597
1777
Halol (Rural)
449
444
177
1070
Kalol (Rural)
674
667
910
2500
· These figures are changing everyday, as people leave to seek sanctuary with relatives, or as new people, particularly in rural areas, finally make their way to the camp.
First Impressions
The Shah-e-Alam Camp is located in the Shah Alam Dargah. It is approached through an ancient gate which opens into a large courtyard type clearing. Near the entrance there are twenty-two toilets for 2200 families or 8000-10,000 inmates. The thick stench is nauseating. As we enter and remove our sandals the flagstones burn the soles of our feet. On the left there is a large room, which serves as an office cum meeting place. People are milling all around. Women, men, children of all ages are scattered across the floor of the Dargah. The muezzin calls them to prayer. Not many respond. They are a company of broken people.
The Vadali Camp is no more than a large open maidan with a cloth shamiana strung overhead. It provides little protection from the heat. The sides are open. When we visited, several hundred women were sitting huddled together in small groups. The maidan is in front of a now defunct cinema hall – the Veena Cinema. At night over 600 women, and nearly 600 children crowd into the premises of the cinema to sleep. The men sleep outside. The toilets are inadequate and the entire compound is slowly becoming a large latrine. They have been living like this for over a month. The only politician to visit is a local Congress leader – he came once. We are the first women visitors.
door ke dhol suhawan
Familiarity breeds Contempt