Armour for Gujarat's victims ; Supreme Court to reopen 2000 closed riot cases

The Telegraph
August 18, 2004

Armour for victims

BASANT RAWAT
Ahmedabad, Aug. 17: After the Best Bakery and Bilkis Bano cases, the Supreme Court order that a high-level Gujarat police committee reconsider about 2,000 riot cases closed for want of evidence has come as relief to the victims, many of whom seem emboldened to speak out.

Minutes after the order, Citizens for Justice and Peace, a non-government organisation fighting for the riot victims, said it received several calls from people willing to speak up to ensure the cases are reinvestigated, like the two most well-known among the riot cases.

The forum was instrumental in getting the Best Bakery case transferred to Mumbai.

Raees Khan Pathan, the forum’s Gujarat coordinator, claimed the callers said they were willing to come forward and share “with me and the police” evidence relating to certain cases to ensure the culprits are punished.

He described it as the most perceptible and positive change in the psyche of the victims, who had lost all hope of getting justice in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat.

The order has come as another slap in the face of the BJP chief minister and an opportunity for the dissidents to regroup and seek his removal.

State government spokesman I.K. Jadeja was mum on the order which, Modi’s critics believe, can pave the way for imposition of central rule. But the Congress-led government in Delhi is unlikely to make a martyr of Modi by sacking him.

State home minister Amit Shah put up a brave front, saying the order was not an indictment of the Modi regime. He said it was just a directive to review closed cases which is not a jolt to the government and promised the high-level police committee would be set up as soon as the government gets a copy of the ruling.

State police chief A.K. Bhargav, who will head the committee, said some of the cases might have been closed because there was no one to give a lead. The victim could have died and there were no witnesses, he explained.

He assured that now they would investigate each case and see that if there is evidence to file a chargesheet.