India - acquittals of 70 accused in the Sesan Nava attack: Justice denied, she recalls - they cut off my hands

Justice denied, she recalls: they cut off my hands

Havribibi in her hut in Sesan Nava on Sunday. (Express photo by Javed Raja)

Written by Ujjwala Nayudu | Deodar (banaskantha) | Posted: February 17, 2015 3:45 am | Updated: February 17, 2015 8:44 am

Fifty-year-old Havribibi struggles to sit on the low cot outside her hut, using for support the stumps that were once her hands. She lost them 13 years ago when, on March 2, 2002, a mob hacked at them a little above her wrists.

Havribibi was among the 34 injured in the violence in Sesan Nava village in Deodar taluka of Banaskantha district in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning two days earlier. Fourteen Muslims were killed in the riots, and two Hindus died in firing by the police.

On February 13, a local court acquitted all 70 accused in the Sesan Nava attack after witnesses turned hostile, and the police failed to produce material evidence against the rioters.

casefile_embed“There must have been around 4,000 or 5,000 of them, I couldn’t count the numbers. They came with swords and rifles and pistols, and started to set homes on fire. The women were screaming, and the men were running to find a place to hide the children,” Havribibi said.

She lost her hands, Havribibi said, before she could run away. She remembers the hacking blows, the blood, and the sight of them falling to the ground. [. . .]

FULL TEXT AT: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/justice-denied-she-recalls-they-cut-off-my-hands/