The Hindu – Riot victims will not get justice under Modi: Zakia

Washington, 5 December 2012. Victims of the Gujarat riots will not get any justice if Narendra Modi becomes India’s Prime Minister, the wife of a former MP killed by a violent mob in Ahmedabad a decade ago told US lawmakers, urging the Obama administration to continue denying visa to the Chief Minister.

“If he (Modi) succeeds to become the Prime Minister, my hopes for justice, along with the hopes of hundreds of thousands of Gujarat victims will be lost. I hope and pray that never happens,” Zakia Jafri, wife of the former MP, Ahsan Jafri, said at the Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

“Your denial to change his (Modi’s) persona non grata status is very vital to keep my hopes alive,” Ms. Jafri said in her statement which was read out by her son-in-law Najid Hussain, while she was standing by his side.

Speaking on behalf of the Gujarat riot victims, Ms. Zakia and her daughter Nishrin Hussain urged both the US lawmakers and the Obama Administration not to grant Mr. Modi a US visa.

“I also know Indian justice system may be slow, but it is robust. Had Chief Minister Modi resigned, or was removed from the office… the wheels of justice would have moved freely and swiftly.

“But instead of leaving the office, he doubled up on his grip on power and has done everything to obstruct and deny justice to the victims like myself,” Ms. Jafri alleged.

Recounting the tragic hours of the day when her father was killed by the violent mob, Nishrin Hussain, who now is a US citizen, said, “I applaud the initiative of the Congresspersons in ensuring that the ban on Mr Modi’s visa continues to stay in place.”

“Maintaining the longstanding US policy on Narendra Modi’s visa is important for the ongoing struggle for justice in Gujarat,” she said.

Speaking on behalf of Coalition Against Genocide, Hyder Khan, said the recent conviction of a sitting member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, Mayaben Kodnani and indictment of Gujarat Minister Amit Shah, is actually a damning indictment of the Modi administration.

“Barring a handful of convictions, the hundreds of perpetrators who roamed the streets of Gujarat in February and March of 2002, killing, raping and destroying property continue to evade the law,” Mr. Khan alleged.

Shaik Ubaid, one of the founders of the coalition said, “The revocation of Modi’s visa by the US is the biggest impediment in Modi’s grandiose plans for himself including becoming the prime minister of India”. (PTI)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/riot-victims-will-not-get-justice-under-modi-zakia/article4166257.ece

The Hindu – Gujarat 2002 pogroms; Life term for 21 in Dipda Darwaja massacre case

Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, 30 July 2012. A designated fast track court in Mehsana on Monday sentenced 21 persons to life imprisonment and another to one-year imprisonment in the Dipda Darwaja post-Godhra massacre case. Designated judge S.C. Srivastava acquitted 61 persons.

None of the accused was found guilty of murder or pre-planned conspiracy and the conviction was on the charges of attempt to murder and rioting. Among those acquitted were the former MLA from Visnagar, Prahladbhai Mohanlal Patel, popularly known as Gosa Patel, and a former president of the Visnagar municipality, Dahyabhai Patel, both of the BJP. The former inspector, M.K. Patel, was among those convicted found guilty of dereliction of duty and was awarded one-year imprisonment.

A family of 11 persons, including four children and a 65 year-old woman, was killed in the mob attack at a house in the Dipda Darwaja locality at Visnagar town in north Gujarat on February 28, 2002, a day after the Godhra train carnage.

Dipda Darwaja was one of the nine cases investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team, headed by the former CBI Director, R.K. Raghavan.

While 10 of the accused were given complete acquittal, 51 others including the two BJP leaders were given the benefit of the doubt.

In all, 127 people, including eight eyewitnesses, were examined during the trial. All those convicted, including the former inspector, belonged to the “Patel” community.

The police had initially booked 83 persons for murder, attempt to murder, rioting, kidnapping and such other charges. But later on the direction of the court, following an appeal by one of the witnesses, the former BJP MLA and the former police inspector were also booked. The court, however, found one of the accused to be a minor at the time of the incident and sent him to the juvenile court for a separate trial, while one of the accused died during trial.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3702882.ece