India: Modasa Bomb Blast - Beginning of the end ? Are investigations into Hindutva terror related cases changing course?

Modasa Bomb Blast - Beginning of the end ?

Subhash Gatade

Introduction

Whether investigations into Hindutva terror related cases are changing course? A series of apparently unconnected developments definitely strengthen the belief.

Close on the heels of renowned public prosecutor Rohini Salian's revelations that she is being pressurised to go slow on the Malegaon bomb blast case (2008) and news of no of witnesses turning hostile in the Ajmer bomb blast case (2007) and sudden decision of the NIA to shift the Sunil Joshi murder case back to M.P, has come the news that the NIA has finally decided to close the Modasa bomb blast case citing 'insufficient evidence'.
As is being rightly said it is the first concrete indication that with the assumption of power by the BJP investigations into Hindutva terror related cases a shift in emphasis is visible. Perhaps an indication of the changed times is the statement by a senior Minister that there is 'nothing like Hindu terror in the country' despite being aware of the fact that the NIA, the premier investigating agency formed after 2008 terror attack in Mumbai to focus on terror related cases, is handling at least a sixteen high profile cases supposedly involving Hindutva terrorists and many of their top bosses are still under scanner.

Bomb blast at Modasa, part of Sabarkantha district then and recently made into a separate district, which witnessed one death and injuries to many, is one of the least explored bomb blast in the country. The following write-up tries to discuss the blast, discusses the prevalent ambience then when bombs were discovered at different places without anyone claiming responsibility for it, the interim findings of the NIA when it took over the particular case during the UPA II regime and the announcement by the then home minister P Chidambaram that the central probe agency has achieved a “breakthrough” in the 2008 Modasa (Gujarat) blast case.

The sudden turnaround by the NIA is baffling and incomprehensible, to say the least.

I.

Ramzan. the period when Muslims observe fast for a month, proves especially painful for Abida Ghori and her husband, both from Modasa, a newly carved out district from Gujarat. No not that they are not able to withstand the strenuous routine which is expected of a religious person, the particular period brings back memories of their only son Jamal Abdeen Ghori, hardly 15 years old then, who died in a bomb blast in Suka Bazar, seven years back just two days prior to Id when the people were about to begin their evening prayers (Sept. 29, 2008).

Abida can recollect each moment of his last goodbye when he had rushed outside to buy few things for the next day Sehri (eating something before dawn), when a low intensity bomb which was kept in a Hero Honda Passion motorcycle (GJ 9 R-2896) parked outside the Suka Bazar mosque exploded killing Jamal Abedeen on the spot and injured 16 others. She later learnt that the motorcycle used in the blast was having a fake number plate. Jamal was a bright lad in studies and work and a darling of the whole neighbourhood who had chalked out many plans for the coming days with his siblings. Little could he have the premonition that he would not be around to witness the celebrations, and would be buried deep in a graveyard in the town ?

Few days back Abida has learned from a local reporter that the police has closed the investigations in the case and she would never be able to know who killed her only son for no fault of him. She was not surprised to hear this as she has seen the behaviour of the police and administration people who had never bothered to visit her once all these intervening years. In fact, from day one she was not hopeful about the police who had exhibited connivance with the communal elements during the 2002 riots and in fact, the person who was handling the Modasa blast case was infamous for such behaviour.

From one of her relatives who lived in Ahmedabad she had learnt that this particular police officer was reported to have told victims seeking protection then ‘today your time has come . We have been told not to help. These are orders from the top.” She was also informed that one of the worst massacres of Muslims happened in an area called Naroda Patiya, Ahmedabad which was then under the jurisdiction of this man only.

II.

Not very many people even know or remember that Modasa was a copycat bombing.
It took place on the same day and at around same time as the much investigated Malegaon bomb blast (29 th September 2008), in a similar locality (Muslim majority area) and in a similar manner ( use of two wheeler in putting explosives)

The only difference was that Malegaon lies in neighbouring Maharashtra ruled by Congress whereas Modasa, a tehsil in Gujarat then, was ruled by BJP. There were eight casualties and injuries to more than 80 in the Malegaon case. Here the explosive laden motorcycle was parked before the closed office of SIMI whereas the bomb blast in Modasa which occurred in Suka bazaar area, was executed by using a Hero Honda motorcycle.
A layperson could see the obvious linkages between the two and would conclude that it must be the same terror group which executed both these operations. It is a different matter whereas investigations into Malegaon bomb blast undertaken by the legendary police officer Hemant Karkare, head of the ATS ( anti terrorist unit) team, helped unearth the widespread Hindutva terror network which involved members and leaders of various Hindutva organisations and here we are where probe into Modasa blast is being abandoned midway.

As an aside it need be mentioned that the laptop recovered by the NIA from one of the terrorists Shankaracharya Dayanand Pandey, ( in the Malegaon bombing case) which recorded meetings of the terror group has enough information which can help nab many of the stalwarts of the Hindutva brigade and can help put them behind bars for the rest of their lives. It also contains explosive information about their attempts to contact Israel and Nepal, for financial support and also for training of their people. ( For detailed treatment of the themse see, ‘Godse’s Children : Hindutva Terror in India’ 2 nd Edition, 2013, Pharos Media) It revealed a few important facts in the public domain.

First, it made it crystal clear that Hindutva terror, whose danger to secular democratic polity has always been underestimated, has a pan-India presence and has been able to build international linkages as well.
Second, there was nothing spontaneous in acts of terror by the Hindutva supremacists, and top leaders of such formations have been involved—as planners, masterminds, financiers or ideologues in making it happen.
It is important to note that the Gujarat police which had always patted itself on the back for the speed and alacrity with which it could unearth many a terrorist incidents in the state involving ‘Jihadi terrorists’ neither could demonstrate similar efficiency nor could come out with any concrete lead in the Modasa case. Despite its apparent inability to crack the case, it did not deem it necessary for them to solicit help from ATS Maharashtra which had successfully cracked the Malegaon bomb blast case. Perhaps the role of the media then which always looked for a 'Jihadi' angle behind every terror act also facilitated absence of any concrete action on its part. One can recall how it was an anathema then to say that there could be extremist /fanatic youths in the majority community who wanted to wreak vengeance on the minorities.
III
Nobody can deny that there was no pressure on the Maharashtra ATS team to implicate the 'usual suspects' in this case also. A section of the media which never tried to hide its sympathies towards the majoritarian viewpoint had as usual started quoting unnamed sources to put the blame on the ‘Jihadi terrorists’. It is now history how RSS-BJP-VHP alongwith Shiv Sena had called for a 'Maharashtra Bandh' to protest the manner in which the investigations were going on under the able stewardship of Karkare and the Hindutva terror network was getting exposed. Activists of various Hindutva organisations had welcomed the Malegaon bombers with rose petals when they were presented in courts in Nashik and Pune.

Malegaon had passed through similar tragedy merely two years ago on the Shab-e-Barat day which had witnessed more deaths. In that case also despite enough indications that it was the handiwork of Hindutva terrorists, the investigating agencies had glossed over their machinations and had unashamedly tried to pass the blame on to differences between Islamic sects.

Looking back one feels that it is to the credit of the police officers, belonging to the Anti Terrorist Squad of Maharashtra led by Mr. Hemant Karkare and the professional attitude they adopted vis-à-vis the case that they shied away from blaming some or the other Islamic terrorist organisation for the Malegaon blast (Sep 2008) and were successful in unearthing the sprawling Hindutva terror network.

And thus while Maharashtra police caught the culprits behind the September 29 Malegaon blast, the Gujarat Police found itself lacking even in getting significant leads in Modasa blast. It merely did two things : it sent the chassis of the two-wheeler to the Forensic Science Lab in Ahmedabad to uncover its number and it summoned active members of different community organizations to take their statements. Despite the fact that the ATS Maharashtra had cracked the Malegaon case and were ready to share intelligence inputs with their Gujarat counterparts, it did not show any inclination to interact with them.

Madhsudan Mistry, then Congress MP of Sabarkantha had made a submission during the ongoing investigation by pointing out that he had forwarded names of three suspects in the blast to the Sabarkantha police but they remained completely indifferent. Questioning the credibility of police when it comes to the Hindutva terror he said why this inaction by the police in arresting the accused in the Modasa case when the police showed an exemplary quickness is arresting the accused in the Ahmedabad blasts.

Thanks to the renewed interest in the case, in the aftermath of exposures then in the Ajmer, Mecca Masjid bomb blast cases where the hand of RSS activists and their network had come under scanner , National Investigating Agency (NIA) took up this case at the behest of central government when it was led by Manmohan Singh, leader of UPA II. This action definitely opened up new possibility for the first time.

IV.

Before coming to the interim findings of NIA it would be opportune to explain the ambience then when bombs were discovered at different places without anyone claiming responsibility for it.
Police in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad say they have discovered a cache of bombs a day before the start of a major Festival in Gujarat.They said the 17 bombs were not sophisticated devices but crude explosives. They were later defused. The incident came two days after the explosion in a market in Delhi that killed two people

Bombs in Ahmedabad last July killed nearly 50 people. Bombs have hit other cities in recent months. An Islamist group called the Indian Mujahideen said it was responsible for some of these attacks.
(Police ‘find 17 bombs in Gujrat, www.bbc Page last updated at 17-23 GMT Monday 29th September 2008 18.23 UK
In Faridabad, a bomb was discovered outside a temple which was defused by an alert civilian.

NEW DELHI A live bomb was found in the Faridabad district of Faridabad early on Monday morning(Watch). The bomb discovered by civilians was found outside the crowded Banke Bihari temple in the city. Even though the Bomb Disposal Squad was rushed to the spot, interestingly it was a civilian in fact who actually defused the bomb.Police have not yet been able to ascertain as to who placed the bomb outside the temple and if it was part of a strategy to terror target the untouched state of Haryana

(Times Now. Sept 29, 200801.59 IST)The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes. Com//Cities/Civilian defuses bomb in Faridabad/articleshow ‘3548338)

The manner in which a terror attack had taken place in Mehrauli, New Delhi around two days before the Malegaon-Modasa blast had baffled the police. The Delhi police was investigating saturday afternoon blast in South Delhi’s Mehrauli which killed two and injured about 24.’ According to the police, several patterns, which defined the previous explosions, had not been established in the latest blast. There were no previously known instances of bombers moving on a motorcycle and virtually throwing the packet on the middle of a road as it had happened in this particular case. And that’s why it did not take much time for it to convince itself that the said blast ‘may not be the handiword of the same modules, which carried out the September 13 serial explosions.’ It may be noted here that on September 13, the capital had witnessed serial explosions at three different places which witnessed spilling of much innocent blood on the street.

In fact, senior probe officers told CNN IBN that they were looking at the possibility of a link between Saturday’s blast and at least three very minor explosions which occurred early this year in South Delhi, which went virtually unreported. Joint Commissioner of Police(Southern Range) Ajay Kashyap said, “We had three such very low blasts in January this year, we are looking at the continuity factor.’

Sources said there were several unusual aspects about the Saturday’s blast which had forced them to look beyond the obvious assumption of the blast being linked to the previous blasts in Delhi, which took place a fortnight ago.

They said the blast occurred in an obscure lane which defies The usual tendency of terrorist’s choosing a well known or centrally located crowded market. The modus operandi was old- styled. No timer was found on the bomb a deviation from most of the blasts, which have occurred in Delhi and other cities. Even the time of the explosion of 1400 hours was odd, as it is not the peak time for shoppers in the area.

Perhaps they could have looked at the history of bomb blasts in the country and could not have missed the fact that bikes have been a favourite instrument of the Hindutva fanatics to attack Muslims. A narco-test of those involved in Nanded bomb blasts (April 2006) which saw deaths of two Bajrang Dal activists had clearly revealed that ‘mysterious blasts’ in Parbhani in 2003 and Jalna (2004) which involved perpetrators on bikes throwing bombs at the congregation and fleeing were actually the handiwork of a terror module of the Bajrang Dal itself.

V

Every vehicle has a unique identity number, which is etched on the chassis, which provides necessary details of its manufacture and it is easy to trace its trajectory from the shop floor to the seller to its ultimate purchaser. A badly damaged vehicle can also reveal such details if the chassis No. of the said vehicle is not tampered with.

The NIA team - which took charge of the Modasa case in July ’10 only - could at least recover the chassis no. of the vehicle used in the blast by referring the matter to the FSL New Delhi whereas the FSL in Gujarat had failed to do so. One does not know whether it was the ineptness of the FSL personnel in Gujarat or it had to do with extraneous pressure applied on them to derail the case.

The importance of the chassis number can be gauged from the fact that investigations into the Malegaon bomb blasts (Sep 2008) could move ahead only because the investigating team could recover the chassis no of the two wheeler which was parked before the closed office of SIMI in Bhiku chowk and this way it could lay its hands on the terror module comprising of the likes of Sadhvi Pragya , Lt.Col. Purohit and others.
Apart from the ‘coincidence ‘ that the two blasts occurred on the same day, where similar motorcycles were used the NIA sleuths had based their argument on leads which had come from three sources. The first lead came from the Agency’s examination of three laptops that belonged to Dayanand Pande, the seond from questioning of a few of Pragya Thakur’s and Pande’s Uttar Pradesh based associates and the third concerned details from Lt.Col. Puohit’s group’s functioning in Maharashtra.

Basing itself on those inputs, the National Investigation Agency suspected that they might have been the handiwork of the same right-wing Hindutva terror network and this had prompted it to question those accused in the Malegaon case about the Modasa blasts and had even taken necessary permission from the special court trying the Malegaon accused.

Looking at the fact that there has been much overlapping in the Hindutva terror network, with many players common to this bloody game, a team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the Modasa (Gujrat) bomb blast case was also keen to interrogate the two RSS activists Devendra Gupta and Lokesh Sharma who were in judicial custody then in connection with the Mecca Masjid case.

It need be mentioned here that the CBI had named, besides Devendra Gupta and Lokesh Sharma, three other RSS members. Ramchandra Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange and Sunil Joshi (all three from Madhya Pradesh), as prime suspects in the Mecca Masjid blast case. Unidentified persons had killed Sunil Joshi while the two other accused were on the run. The CBI had even declared them as absconding and has announced Rs. 10 lakh to anyone who could provide information about their whereabouts.

The deciphering of the chassis number in the Modasa case helped the NIA to reach the dealer. Shivani Motors in Varachha of Surat.(Bike traced to man who lives in Pragya area. September 7,2010, Indian Express) The dealer told the paper that they had sold the bike to one Subhash Singh Rabadia, who lived in Pushpak Society on A.K.Road in Varachha on June 2003. The vehicle bore the registration No. GJ-O5 BP-9807.
According to the report
‘Sources said Subhash told the NIA sleuths that he had sold the motorcycle to his nephew Jaysukh Dudhagra who stays in Punagam. This is the same neighborhood where Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur an accused in the Malegaon blast , used to reside. Dudhagra is a diamond worker and belongs to Dharmapur Lalpur in Jamnagar. Sources said the NIA team is questioning Subhash and Jaysukh and their statements have been contradictory. A few local youths have also been picked up for questioning.”

An NIA Team had then also visited the ashram of an RSS activist turned swami called Aseemanand who had also been involved in Ajmer dargah, Malegaon , Mecca Masjid blasts and who was caught from Haridwar in mid-November 2010.
NIA had reportedly found links between the Modasa blast and some other blast cases it was investigating. Everybody knows that Aseemanand’s role as a key figure in the net of Hindutva extremist organizations, including Abhinav Bharat , was first revealed during questioning of Lt. Col. Purohit who was arrested for his alleged role in the Malegaon blast . Purohit told investigators that it was Aseemanand who introduced him to Sadhvi Pragya Singh. With new leads available from Assemanand it must have definitely become easier for the investigating agencies to connect few missing links.
It was worth noting that NIA made this important disclosure in the second week of February.

Modasa blast: NIA says Samjhauta accused did it [India]
(Times of India, The, Feb 10, 2011 | by Mohan, Vishwa)
NEW DELHI: A month after Union home minister P Chidambaram credited the NIA with a “breakthrough” in the Samjhauta Express train blast, the central probe agency has now `formally’ claimed to have achieved a similar “breakthrough” in the 2008 Modasa (Gujarat) blast case amid indications that both the incidents were carried out by the same group of Hindu radicals comprising members of Abhinav Bharat.

Although the confessional statement of Swami Aseemanand and subsequent questioning of Bharat Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai and others made it amply clear that the Modasa blast too was the handiwork of the Hindu radicals, the NIA’s latest claim is learnt to have been made after the agency collected some corroborative evidence.
Without disclosing what it had got during investigation of the Modasa blast case, the NIA — in a brief report on its achievements during 2010 — stated achieving a “breakthrough” in the case. The report has listed out breakthroughs in both Modasa and Samjhauta blast cases as the NIA’s “significant achievements in the field of investigation”.

VI

One cannot guess what has happened in between that the same NIA which talked of 'unearthing' the case, some time earlier, has now declared that they are closing the case for 'lack of evidence' and 'the inability to trace the main culprits behind the blast'. In fact the special NIA court has closed the case on April 22 and the 16-page final report named no suspects but only said that “the complainant is the victim of the blast and is fortunate enough to have survived”.
Perhaps we may never officially know who executed the blast, but there is enough ground to raise questions about the manner in which the same NIA has changed tune. The same NIA which had fought for months to take over the Sunil Joshi murder case - who was an important link in the alleged acts of Hindutva terror, who was charge sheeted by the same NIA in Samjhauta Express train blast of 2007 - has been quietly shifted back to Madhya Pradesh or the same NIA which had done a marvellous job earlier seems to be pressurising a public prosecutor to go slow on a particular terror case. (http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/nia-asking-salian-to-go-soft-i-am-a-criminal-lawyer-not-stupid-to-say-this-without-proof/)

It does not need underlining that the closure of investigations in the Modasa bomb blast case needs to be contested, challenged and exposed at all levels. One expects that in the coming Monsoon session of the Parliament, all those formations who claim themselves to be secular would raise their voice in unison to oppose the hurried manner in which Hindutva Supremacists - involved in different terror acts- are busy giving themselves clean chits.

India: Independent inquiry into Muzaffarnagar ‘Riots’: Mohan Rao, Ish Mishra, Pragya Singh, Vikas Bajpai

Press Statement on the Report prepared by Mohan Rao, Ish Mishra, Pragya Singh and Vikas Bajpai

December 30, 2013

A team of independent academics and a journalist carried out an inquiry into the communal violence that shook Muzaffarnagar district in UP this past September. The report is based on the findings of the team during its visit to Muzaffarnagar district on the 9th and the 10th of November and again on the 27th November. The members of the team were:

Dr. Mohan Rao, Faculty, Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU.
Mr Ish Misra, Faculty, Department of Political Science, Hindu College, Delhi University.
Ms.Pragya Singh, Journalist, Outlook, and
Dr. Vikas Bajpai, Ph.D. Scholar, Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU.

The team also drew upon the assistance of Dr. Subhash Tyagi, Professor of Geography, Machra College, Meerut, and Praveen Raj Tyagi, Principal Greenland Public School, Duhai, Ghaziabad, in the collection of some data and the conduct of the visit.

OBJECTIVES OF OUR ENQUIRY:

To investigate the role of state agencies in either preventing or containing violence, in taking appropriate punitive actions against the guilty and also to investigate some incidents of communal violence.
To investigate the role of the government in providing relief and rehabilitating the displaced and the progress made in displaced people going back to their villages and homes.
To understand economic, social and political reasons that led to the recent spate of communal violence in this area of Western Uttar Pradesh.

SALIENT FINDINGS:

Role of the agencies of the State

The fact that India is Constitutionally mandated as ‘Secular’ State makes it obligatory on the agencies of the State to uphold secular values. However, the communal incidents in Muzaffarnagar, its aftermath and the continuing tragedy of the riot affected persons have been the undoing of the Indian State in this regard. Regrettably, this has been the outcome of deliberate and calculated decisions at different levels as is evident from the findngs:

The affidavits riot victims were made to sign for availing monetary compensation

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government has made the riot affected Muslim families in relief camps to sign an affidavit (copy attached as annexure) that enforced following conditions on the signatories in order to avail of financial relief:

“That myself and members of my family have come leaving our village and home being terrorized due to violent incidents in ……… village and we will not now return to our original village and home under any circumstances”.
“That the lumpsum financial help being given for my family by the government will only be used by me to rehabilitate my family. By this money I will live with my family voluntarily arranging for residence at appropriate place elsewhere”.
“That in the condition of receiving lumpsum financial help amount, myself or members of my family will not demand compensation relating to any damage to any immovable property in my village or elsewhere”.

The State thus sought to impose a demographic change in the riot affect villages through a legal instrument. The monetary relief being disbursed was not to rebuild the damaged property or lost means of livelihood. This has served to reinforce the terror of communal violence in the minds of affected families besides driving a schism in the composite culture of the area which mars the possibilities of gradual healing. Muslims are now being ghettoized in towns and localities dominated by them.

These aspects were pointed out by the team members to the district administration, The officials however denied that the government was preventing people from going back to the villages and told of an order stating that those who wanted to return to their villages were free to do so. But a copy of the said order could not be provided by the administration.

Nepotism, complicity and inaction of the police in incidents of violence

The shallow credibility of the law and order machinery in Muzaffarnagar is best reflected in the statement of senior police officials that – “both the Jats and the Muslims are complaining against us, so the police must have done something good.” Police itself is at pain to enumerate pro-active and positive actions taken by them against the wrong doers. Establishing credibility in the eyes of minorities becomes all the more difficult when in a region with around 27 percent Muslim population, as per senior police official of the district, the representation of Muslims in police force is less than 3 percent. The officer however maintained that “this did not matter for a policeman is a policeman and religion was not a factor in discharge of his duties.”

The residents at the camps however said that they did not want to go back to their villages as their tormentors were still roaming free and that the government had done little that would have them repose their faith in the law and order machinery. The frequent transfers of the senior police officials in the district have not helped matters either. In 2013 the SSP of the district has been changed five times.

In Qutba village, where from single largest number of Muslim killings has been reported (8 Muslim were killed) a picket of PAC (provincial armed police) was posted in the village at the time of riots. These policemen were having tea in the Pradhan’s house when mobs started rampaging Muslim households. The three Muslim men who rushed to seek their help were said to have been locked up by these policemen in the Pradhan’s house.

The second incident of killings that took place with the police in vicinity was at the Mohammepur Raisingh village on October 30. Three Muslim youth from the neighboring Hussainpur village were abducted from the fields and killed by the Jats even as a picket of the state police was posted in the village. The Hussainpur villagers on learning of the abduction of youth repeatedly rang the SHO of Bhaura Kalan police station, but their calls went unanswered. It was told that the SHO had switched off his phone.

Pradhan of Hussainpur village later told that despite their best efforts many of those accused by name in the killings have still not been arrested and are roaming free in Mohammedpur Raisingh. He further alleged that the police has “declared rates” (of bribe) to weaken the cases against the accused or even let them go scot free.

It appears from the sequence and the circumstances of the incidents of violence in Muzaffarnagar that had the police and the district administration acted with alacrity and a fair sense of judgment in the immediate aftermath of the incidence of alleged “eve teasing” and related murders in Kawal village, the subsequent turn of events could have been entirely avoided.

Outsourcing of relief to the Muslim communal organizations by the State

It would have been best if the State machinery was seen by the riot affected Muslims as a dependable, sincere and caring source of succor and a guarantor of their safety. The State instead chose to outsource relief measures to Muslim communal organizations, principally the Jamiat-Ulema e Hind of Deoband though some other NGOs were also involved.

On being quizzed – why no state agency has a visible presence at the relief camps, the district administration told us that this was in accordance with the policy of the state government. The Shiv Pal Singh Yadav committee set up by the state government post riots had recommended that all relief be provided through community organizations.

This reflects redoubtable wisdom. Communal community organizations cannot be expected to be credible foot soldiers for Secular ideals. The impact of this was evident in the camps. Apart from apprehensions regarding security upon return to their villages, the people also said that they would prefer to live “amidst the security of their own people.”

Different reports before ours have graphically highlighted the pitiable conditions at the camps. We would only reiterate that even the least courtesies like essential medical or civil amenities such as drinking water or functioning toilets have not been provided to the people in the camps despite visits by the mightiest VIPs in the country.

Jamiat dominated committees appeared to tightly control what the people said of the arrangements at the camps. At the Bassi Kalan camp when the residents complained against the government, members of the managing committee tried to stop them. Likewise at camp no 1 at Shahpur a local Maulvi expressed his displeasure when the residents complained of the conditions. We were told by families in the relief camps that up to Rs 20,000 had been taken from them by functionaries of the Jamiat for constructing alternative accommodation.

A close confidant of ours asked the leader of the Jamiat as to why they were not opposing the affidavits that displaced Muslim families were being made to sign. Reply was – “there is nothing to worry about this and that all of them will finally be allowed to return to their villages.” Jamiat further claimed credit for getting handsome relief package for the displaced families. Silence of the Jamiat over the claims of the Samajwadi Party leadership that the Muslims in the camps were agents of the Congress and the BJP is equally deafening.

Any astute observer can note that the Samajwadi Party government of UP will now bank on the certifications of the mullahs to clean up its abominable record of a number of communal riots / disturbances in the state during its rule.

Local administration was categorical in stating that there are no refugees in any relief camp and government aid has stopped. Further insult to injury has been added by the statement of the UP home secretary that ‘people do not die of cold.’ These only undermine the secular credentials of the state.

The communal campaign and the Muzaffarnagar violence

The communal violence in Muzaffarnagar ought to be seen in the context of such violence in different parts of the country in 2013 beginning from Kishthwar (J & K), Masoori and Meerut in UP, Indore and Harda in MP, Bettiah and Nawada in Bihar and Rangpur in Cachar district of Assam. UP has witnessed a sustained campaign at communalization – may it be the ‘chaurasi kos parikrama’ or innovations like ‘love jihad’, ever since Amit Shah took over the reins of BJP in the state. This is pathognomonic of the communal forces represented by the Sangh Parivar. The approaching Lok Sabha elections in 2014 provide the leitmotif of this campaign.

However, equally abominable is the complicity of supposedly ‘secular’ forces in facilitating this communal campaign. The track record of the Akhilesh Yadav government in dealing with communal forces, its attitude towards common Muslims and history of hob-knobbing with Muslim communal forces is a case in the point.

The atmosphere in Muzaffarnagar has been vitiated over several months through sustained communal mobilization. Muslims have been the worst sufferers of communal orgy that swept Muzaffarnagar. Senior Superintendent Police informed that a total of 52 people died in Muzaffarnagar, of which 37 were Muslims and 15 were Hindus (in all likelihood these were all Jats). Unofficial sources put the number of displaced Muslims at 100,000 while by the time of our visit government acknowledged that 50,955 displaced persons had been accommodated in 11 relief camps. 540 FIRs have been registered in riot-related incidents, against approximately 6000 people.

There is an important distinction in the manner of Muslims and Jat deaths. Almost all the Jats who were killed were those who had participated in the Mahapanchayat at Nangla Mandaur village on September 7th. There were accounts of the Jats, in tractor trollies from different villages that went to take part in the Mahapanchayat, raising provocative slogans as they passed by Muslim habitations. Provocations like dogs being dressed in burqa and beaten with slippers were on display along with slogans like – “Musalmano ke do sthan – Pakistan ya kabristan’. Even the Jats we talked to admitted that “these youth have been taken in by the charisma of Modi and they raised slogans in his support” on way to the mahapanchayat.

Jats who died were killed in reaction to this deliberate provocation. Most of these deaths took place on the evening of September 7th in attacks on Jat trollies as they returned from the Mahapanchayat or were of those Jats who got injured in these attacks and died later. The only incident of a planned attack on Jats took place at Pur Baliyan on September 7th in which some Mulle Jats wanted to attack the trolley of Jats from Sohram village out of rivalry borne by a previous incident. However, in the melee of the violence the Jats in the trolley of Kakda village got killed. But none of the Jats from Pur Baliyan village itself were attacked by Muslims.

The attacks and deaths of Muslims have taken place as part of a sustained campaign in different villages. The victims were all innocent lower class Muslims who had no role in attacks on Jats. The handwork of the larger communal design and organization was evident in the well-rehearsed and similar arguments which the Jats from different villages forwarded to rationalize the killings and the displacement of the Muslims. A Jat teacher in Kakda village described the communal violence in the region as – “Yeh hai Amit Shah ka jadoo.” The Qutba village had been witness to a panchayat that was attended by the BJP president Mr Rajnath Singh about 6 months back. This points to the forces that have been at work in the area.

The Jats in villages like Kakda and Mohammedpur Raisingh put forth ludicrous arguments like – “the Muslims were willing to come back to their villages, but decided to stick to the relief camps ever since the government announced the 5 lakh relief package” and that they “themselves destroyed their property to claim inflated relief.” Common communal myths propagated by the Hindutva forces against Muslims – “they have large families and do not believe in family planning”; “they are anti-national” and that “they will create a Kashmir like situation here as well” – were liberally put forth.

Is it Jat versus Muslims or Hindus versus Muslims?

It has been reported that lower caste Hindus also participated in attacks on Muslims along with the Jats in different villages. However, the Muslims whom we interviewed in the relief camps felt that wherever the lower caste Hindus acted against them it was under the pressure of the Jats as the lower caste Hindus had little option but to follow the diktat of the Jats. Distinct caste hierarchies were observed in the villages, and also in terms of the involvement of different castes in the decision making processes. For example in the 35 biradari panchayat that was convened in Mohammadpur Raisingh on the November 10, representatives of all the upper castes were invited but none from the lower castes.

It is however noteworthy that no communal violence has been reported from any of the Muslim dominated villages. Simultaneously, there were Jat dominated villages where the Jats took up the responsibility of protecting their Muslim brethren. Some of these villages were Kheda Gani, Garhi Novabad, Garhi Jaitpur and Kurawa.

THE WAY FORWARD

Despite the constitutional and formal averments of the ‘secular’ character of the Indian state, the de facto reality remains that the state machinery has acted in a highly communal manner which undermines India’s secular credentials. Even as the communal poison being spread by the Hindutva forces need be countered with full force, the role played by the Samajwadi Party government in UP in connivance with the Muslim communal forces and the latest act of forcibly evicting the riot displaced families from relief camps brings into question the advisability of forming alliances with such parties to counter communalism. The stark reality is that despite the fact that Muslims constitute a much larger share of UP’s population as compared to Yadav’s, the propensity of the Yadavization of administrative structure is much stronger while the Muslims can at best expect their lives to be spared in the name of secularism. India’s secularism ostensibly sways between ‘Hindu Rule’ of the “secular parties” of the ruling classes and the ‘Hindu Rashtra’ of the saffron brigade.

Fighting communalism is not merely an electoral issue. The communal forces can be defeated only by ground struggles built by an alliance of the minorities, the working masses, the dalits, the tribals, other oppressed castes and progressive sections of the intelligentsia. In this regard the example held out by the people of Hussainpur, Kheda Gani, Garhi Novabad, Garhi Jaitpur, Kurawa and other such villages is a ray of hope.

OUR DEMANDS

The following demands acquire top most priority in our opinion under the prevailing circumstances:

All the accused named in the FIRs should be arrested.
Decommunalize the state apparatus.
Restore all villagers back to their homes.
Scrap the affidavit which was taken against five lakh compensation amount.

India: Media Invite for Release of Fact Finding report on Muzaffarnagar violence. (17 Sept 2013, New Delhi)

The Centre for Policy Analysis took a Fact Finding team of six eminent persons to Muzaffarnagar on September 14 (Saturday) to look into the genesis of the violence there and the reasons for its spread.

The team included Kamal Chenoy, Harsh Mander, E. N. Rammohan, Sukumar Muralidharan, John Dayal and Seema Mustafa.

CPA will release the report of the team at a press conference on September 17 (Tuesday) at 3 pm at Indian Women’s Press Corps.

You are cordially invited for the Press Conference on September 17 (Tuesday) at 3 pm at IWPC, 5 Windsor Place, Ashoka Road, New Delhi.

Gujarat: How the state authorities connived to protect Kodnani

From: The Indian Express

State of connivance

by P P Rao : Fri Sep 07 2012, 02:22 hrs

The most disturbing finding in the judgment of the trial court in the Naroda Patiya mass murder case is not only the active involvement of a prominent senior BJP leader, Mayaben Surendrabhai Kodnani, who hatched the conspiracy and instigated the rioters to commit the crime, but the fact that she was sought to be shielded by the state investigating agency by making every effort to see that her involvement did not come on record. Two questions arise here: first, can the leaders of a ruling political party be allowed to indulge in crime against members of another religion? And, second, what is the role assigned to the investigating agency of the state when a serious, cognisable offence takes place?

FULL TEXT AT: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/state-of-connivance/998930/0

Godhra: The Diabolic Lie

Godhra: The Diabolic Lie
Twice Burnt Still Simmering

Untenable theories, bribed witnesses, coerced statements. In a staggering investigation, ASHISH KHETAN uncovers the deliberate and malicious subversion of the truth in Godhra
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107TwiceBurntStillSimmering.asp&page=1

A Fact Finding Report on Kandhamal Communal Violence: Four Years Later

One of the most severe communal violence took place in Kandhamal in 2008 following the alleged murder of Swami Laxamananda Saraswati, a front-line leader of Sangh Parivar by the Communist Party of India (Maoists). The violence forced 55000 minority Christians to displace, 5600 homes in 415 villages were looted and burnt down, 38 persons were killed, two women were gangraped, several people were tortured, disabled. A Fact Finding Team visited 16 villages during 10th to 14th August, 2012; interviewed about fifty persons including victims, witnesses, leaders of different political and social organisations, District Collector and Superintendent of Police and reviewed various documents and records.

http://www.sacw.net/article2802.html

Coalition Against Genocide condemns SIT's shoddy report on Gujarat violence

May 11, 2012

Coalition Against Genocide (CAG - http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org/), a broad coalition of over 40 organizations dedicated to the cause of justice and accountability, condemns the report filed by the Special Investigations Team (SIT) as shoddy investigation and a deliberate distortion of evidence.
The Supreme Court appointed SIT's closure report, on the complaint brought forth by Mrs. Zakia Jafri, is replete with inconsistencies, contradicting inferences and devoid of any substantial effort to examine all the records that can throw light on the alleged crimes. "The line of investigation seems focused on finding excuses to discard the available evidence by casting doubt on the credibility of the victims and those that have come forward with evidence.", said Biju Mathew, one of the founding members of the coalition. On the other hand, a report by Mr. Raju Ramachandran, who was appointed by the Court as amicus curiae, has declared that there was sufficient evidence to charge and prosecute Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
CAG expresses its dismay that the SIT has summarily dismissed the testimonies of two senior police officials that had made specific allegations against the Gujarat state government and Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Whistle-blower cop Sanjiv Bhatt had alleged that he was present at a meeting held at the Chief Minister's residence in which Mr. Narendra Modi instructed senior state and police officials to "allow Hindus to vent their anger." The same allegation has been corroborated by another high ranking police official R. B. Sreekumar in a separate affidavit. In that affidavit he has alleged that the then Director General of Police K. Chakravarty conveyed that similar instructions were given in that meeting by Chief Minister Modi.
It should be noted that the destruction of the minutes and other official records by the Modi administration that would have conclusively clarified Sanjiv Bhatt's presence in the said meeting, was ignored by the SIT.
Instead of probing these allegations with the seriousness they deserve, the SIT made the following outrageous claim in its report:
"The interpretation made on alleged illegal instructions given by the Chief Minister by [former DGP R. B.] Sreekumar and [suspended police officer] Sanjiv Bhatt appear to be without basis. Further, even if such allegations are believed for the sake of argument, mere statement of alleged words in the four walls of a room does not constitute an offense."
In other words, the SIT does not hold it an offense for a sitting Chief Minister to give overt approval for sectarian violence by instructing police officials to look the other way. It is a sad day for Indian democracy when a body appointed by the court to unearth the truth, itself conducts its proceedings in a manner that reflects clear bias and prejudice.
CAG believes that SIT's twisted interpretation of the law has monumentally disastrous implications for the foundational principles of the Constitution including the guarantees to the right to life for every citizen. CAG further believes that the SIT has lost all legal, ethical and moral standing to continue the investigation in a free and fair manner.
The Coalition appeals to the Supreme Court to intervene to:

Reject the SIT report and its line of investigation, especially in light of amicus curiae's diametrically opposite conclusion based on the same evidence.
Appoint a separate investigative body, with an explicit mandate to probe the role of the state administration, law enforcement personnel, politicians and other accused in the perpetration of violence and subsequent subversion of justice to the victims.
Order the new investigative body to probe allegations brought against the SIT, since its officers are themselves accused in some instances.
Coalition Against Genocide affirms its solidarity with the survivors of the pogroms and the civil society groups in their continued struggle for justice and reparation.
RELATED LINKS:
Narendra Modi found partisan in 2010,cleared in 2012
Indian Express, May 10, 2012
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/narendra-modi-found-partisan-in-2010-cleared-in-2012/947344/
SIT says illegal instruction given in private is not an offence
The Hindu, May 11, 2012
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3405602.ece
Did Narendra Modi govt pay for SIT chief Raghavan's foreign trips?
Times of India, May 10, 2012
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-10/ahmedabad/31654977_1_amicus-r-k-raghavan-gujarat-chief-minister
SIT says Ehsan Jafri 'provoked' murderous mob
The Hindu, May 11, 2012
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3405416.ece
Modi's SITcom
Times of India, May 9, 2012
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-09/ahmedabad/31641245_1_riot-victims-zakia-jafri-relief-camps

CONTACT:
Biju Mathew
Tel: (917) 232-8437
Email: biju2u@gmail.com
(East Coast, USA)
Dr. Hyder Khan
Tel: (612) 889-7334
Email: hydermkhan@yahoo.com
(Mid West, USA)
Girish Agrawal
Tel: (408) 398-4885
Email: lawgir@gmail.com
(West Coast, USA)

Terror Acts' Investigation and RSS

by Ram Puniyani

Supreme Court slammed the RSS Sarsanghchalak, Dr. Mohan Bhagwat for stating that Karakre had told him that he was under tremendous pressure to nail the RSS in unsolved cases of terror acts like, Malegaon, Ajmer, Samjhauta Express blast (Feb 28, 2012). As per the Chief of RSS, he knew Karkare well and Karkare had solicited his cooperation for solving these cases, and in the context of that had told him about the pressures being put on him.

One knows that Karkare was under pressure during that time. One also knows that the investigations in the acts of terror were leading nowhere and after every blast number of young Muslim boys were arrested, the blame was put on some affiliate of Lashkar, Al Qaeda etc. After Karkare took over as the chief of Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad, the things started moving. The turning point was the meticulous investigation by Karkare’s team which led to the unearthing of the motor cycle used in the Malegaon blast, the motor cycle belonged to Sadhvi Pragya Sing Thakur, the ex ABVP (RSS affiliate) activist, and the leads took the ATS to the whole set of terror group, which were called later as Saffron terrorism by the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

These investigations led Karkare to Swami Dayanand Pandey, Lt Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, Swami Aseemanand, Indresh Kumar, Sunil Joshi, Kasangra and the number of those close to the RSS or close to RSS affiliates. The implication of this was very clear.

Once this Hindutva network got exposed the acts of terror which were occurring at regular intervals in front of mosques and other places, where Muslims congregate for prayers came to a halt. As such it was ironical that the blasts were focussed to kill the Muslims and after every act again Muslims were arrested. With the Rajasthan ATS joining the process of investigation the evidence against these Hindutva elements became further clear.

The confession of Swami Aseemanand in presence of the magistrate gave the full details of the modus operandi of these acts of terror. The people involved in these acts believed that they are doing these dastardly acts to avenge the Muslim terrorists and that these acts aimed to pave the way for Hindu Rashtra. Swami Aseemanand, the VHP leader working in Gujarat, who was the architect of Shabri Kumbh Mela was the key figure in these blasts in many ways. In the statement given by him in presence of the magistrate he confessed that their group was involved in these activities.

Since then more and more beans have been spilling from the Sangh stable, the latest one being that of involvement of Kamal Chauhan in Samjhauta blast. Chauhan has been labelled as the disgruntled element by his parent organization, RSS. This again is the standard ploy by RSS. Most of those who are caught doing these acts of murders or blasts are claimed to have left the organization some time ago or if possible their association with RSS combine is put under the wraps.

One recalls that there was a time when nobody believed that RSS associates can be part of these acts of terror. RSS claims they do not believe in violence. Their claims have come to be exposed one after the other. Now their claim is that they are being implicated by the ruling party to appease the minorities; or that those being charged for acts of terror are clean people and are deliberately being implicated in terrorist acts. Going by the expose after expose, the RSS at one level is trying to disassociate from these terror accused, on the other is propagating that they are accused but not guilty and on yet another level claiming that the investigation authorities have been pressurized to nail the RSS cohorts.

This defence is very weak. The statement of RSS Chief is coming at a time when Karkare has already become a martyr for the cause of defending the country. There is no way he can confirm or deny what the patriarch of Sangh Combine is saying. But yes there are some clues which can tell as to what is the truth.

Lets recall that Sadhvi Pragya Thakur was caught for her alleged role in Malegaon blast, none other than Lal Krishna Advani went to the Prime Minister to complain about the torture of Pragya Singh Thakur and demanded investigation into Thakur's torture. At the same time another Hindutva leader Bal Thakre condemned Karkare, calling him anti National and wrote in his mouth piece Saamna that ‘we spit on his face’! Another Hindutva warrior Narendra Modi called Karkare as Deshdrohi (anti National). Incidentally both these, Thackeray and Modi, are hailed as ‘Emperors of Hindu hearts’. Later Modi called Karkare as a great patriot after his death. Modi went to the extent of offering one crore Rupees to Karate’s widow, which she gracefully refused.

On the contrary Congress leader Digvijay Singh claimed that Karkare had called him on the night of 26/11, the day Mumbai was attacked by Kasab and gang, and said that there is a tremendous pressure on him from the Right wing. Digvijay Singh also showed the press clipping to that effect and pointed out that BSNL, Bhopal cannot give the records of the conversation between him and Karkare as the matter was more than a year old at that time, and BSNL does not keep record beyond a year.

There is another source which tells us the direction from which Karkare was being pressurized. Julio Ribeiro, one amongst the police of officer of highest integrity in the country, in his obituary to Karkare (Times of India, Mumbai Edition 28th Nov 2010) pointed out that there was a direct insinuation into the work of Karkare, who was intimidated by Advani and other Hindutva gang. Karkare sought solace and advice from his senior Ribeiro, Ribeiro confirmed that Karkare was being harassed and intimidated by the associates of Advani-Modi and company. Ribeiro advised his junior colleague to carry on with his work irrespective of the pressures. "He came to me because he was looking for someone to hold his hand," Ribeiro told IANS on phone from Mumbai while stressing that Karkare was not a man to be politically influenced.

While this is what the truth is, one can see the motive behind Bhagwat’s statement in the face of so many of his cabal either charged or in jail. In an earlier event Bhagwat’s predecessor K. Sudarshan had also played a similar game. During the investigation of Babri demolition, when the role of RSS combine was coming more and more to surface, Sudarshan said that he heard Gandhian Nirmala Didi saying that there was a blast inside the mosque which demolished the mosque. Fortunately Didi was alive that time to deny something being said in her name.

So there is some pattern in the statements of RSS chiefs!

Gujarat government has destroyed incriminating records of the 2002 anti-Muslim pogroms

dawn.com, July 1, 2011

Modi destroys massacre records

by Jawed Naqvi

The Congress party said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Chief Minister Narendra Modi had carried out a criminal conspiracy to destroy the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) records. — Photo by Reuters

NEW DELHI, June 30: In a setback to India's fabled secular democracy, and with international ramifications, the Gujarat government has destroyed incriminating records of the 2002 anti-Muslim pogroms, victims` lawyers and political opponents said on Thursday.

The Congress party said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Chief Minister Narendra Modi had carried out a criminal conspiracy to destroy the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) records.

Pakistan`s human rights icon and UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Asma Jehangir had met Mr Modi in 2008 to underscore her concerns. However, according to a Gujarat official, the records had already been destroyed in 2007.

“This is nothing short of a criminal conspiracy to see that the truth does not emerge. It clearly points out that the state government is trying to cover up the entire matter,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said in New Delhi.

Alleging there was an attempt to `hide` the truth regarding the alleged involvement of Chief Minister Modi and his cabinet colleagues, representatives of victims and survivors demanded an independent inquiry under the supervision of the Supreme Court into the BJP government`s action.

Mr Tewari found it a `complete travesty` that documents pertaining to a `massacre and carnage`, which is under investigation of the highest court of the land and in which the “needle of suspicion is directly at the Chief Minister of Gujarat”, gets destroyed in this manner.

In the state capital, Gandhinagar, lawyer Mukul Sinha of the NGO Jan Sangharsh Manch, which represents some of riot victims, said: “It is a terrible thing for the government to do. We had a doubt that they had been destroyed.”

“Since all the allegations were against police officer for inactions and negligence, destruction of SIB records could have serious implications,” he said.

Now with the records destroyed it would be difficult to prove the allegations against the accused policemen and political leaders, Mr Sinha said.

“This could also affect judgment in the Godhra train burning case as the phone call records, movement records of police and political leaders prior, during and after the incident are no more,” he added.

Senior Gujarat counsel S. B. Vakil representing the state government in the Nanavati Commission, probing the 2002 violence, had on Wednesday told reporters that telephone call records, officers` movement registers and vehicle log books of the SIB pertaining to the period of 2002 riots were destroyed in 2007, as per government rules.

Why are tapes implicating ultra Hindutva outfits in terror blasts gathering dust?

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 7, Issue 30, Dated July 31, 2010

CURRENT AFFAIRS ATS TAPES

Malegaon. Mecca Masjid. Ajmer Sharif. Why are tapes implicating ultra Hindutva outfits in terror blasts gathering dust?

BY RANA AYYUB

Dayanand Pandey: Yesterday Brig. Mathur of the Deolali Cantt called and said, give me 20 men, I will train them.Col. Purohit: Maj. Prayag Modak was the one who came in our meeting and is helping us. There is Col. Raikar and Col. Hasmukh Patel. On 24 June 2007, we were to have a meeting with King Gyanendra. Col. Lajpat Prajwal, who is now a brigadier, was the one who made the meeting possible.

The conspirators Lt Col Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, prime accused in the Malegaon blast case

Tehelka has accessed 37 audio tapes, two videos and several witness statements that cast further light on the Malegaon blasts case of 2008. This conversation is just a snippet of the voluminous — and self-incriminating — evidence in these tapes which reveal the right-wing Hindutva terror network beyond Sadhvi Pragya and Colonel SP Purohit. The fact that such damning evidence has been in the possession of investigative agencies for a while but has not been acted upon, is testimony to a disturbing unwillingness by the State to unearth the larger conspiracy behind the blasts. .

Transcripts of some of these video and audio tapes were first published in Tehelka (Scheming, Hatred and Porn on Tape, 23 January 2009). They ­expose not just the complicity of members of various ultra Hindutva organisations from across the country but, interestingly, their vituperative hatred even for Sangh Parivar members who they ­believe are diluting their hate agenda against Muslims.

The Maharashtra Anti Terror Squad (ats) under its late chief, Hemant Karkare, had arrested high-profile seer Dayanand Pandey alias Shankaracharya and Col. SP Purohit for the planning and ­execution of the Malegaon blasts (2008) which claimed five lives. Another blast had taken place around the same time in Modasa, Gujarat, killing one.

Ramji Kalsangra is a key accused in the blasts. He apparently planted the bombs. Though the ATS had received specific intelligence in January on Kalsangra's presence in his hometown, it made no efforts to track him down.

The tapes show that the conspiracy was not just restricted to the 12 who were arrested. They throw up names of those who were sympathisers and funders, as suggested by Hemant Karkare in his last ­interview to Tehelka on 25 November 2008, a day before his death. The people mentioned are majors, brigadiers, police chiefs and politicians. But after the filing of the chargesheet, there has been silence.

Damningly, Tehelka also has a copy of an important department communication to a top ats official officials in the beginning of the year, with information on Ramji Kalsangra, a key accused. Kalsangra is wanted not just in the Malegaon blasts case but also for the Ajmer dargah, Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad), Malegaon mosque and Samjhauta Express blasts. Kalsangra was the one who planted the bombs and rode the bike used in the blasts. He was declared absconding. However, the department communication accessed by Tehelka speaks of specific information about Kalsangra’s whereabouts — the fact that he visited his mother on Diwali and Makar Sankranti and was being sheltered by a Patidar family in Gopipur, Madhya Pradesh. It also mentions his voter identity (MP 33 258 192304 Shajapur). Yet no action was taken.

Disillusioned officials say they were dismayed by the disinterest in pursuing these leads. In fact, the nexus between these blasts and the Modasa one now being established by central agencies could have been done much earlier had the ats not sat on the evidence.

At the time of filing its chargesheet in 2009, the Maharashtra ats had asserted that it had a watertight case against the accused. However, it ­remained silent on the involvement of the same accused in the Mecca Masjid blast of May 2007 which killed 14 people as well as the Ajmer dargah blasts of October 2007 which took four lives. It dismissed a statement by Maj. Nitin Joshi, member of Abhinav Bharat, that his colleague Col. Purohit had said that the rdx used in the Malegaon blasts was the same as that used for the Samjhauta blasts.

The tapes accessed by Tehelka also contain what amount to confessions of rioting. For instance, RP Singh, an ­endocrinologist at Apollo Hospital, tells Dayanand Pandey, “We burnt 25 Muslims at one go. Killing Muslims by day, practicing medicine at night: we have to do this. We have to spread terror. No more crying” (translated from Hindi).

The mayhem L to R: Aftermath of Malegaon blasts on 9 September 2006; gory evidence at Ajmer on 11 October 2007; bloodshed at Mecca Masjid on 7 May 2007

Further in the same conversation, Singh is heard discussing with BL Sharma Prem, former bjp mp, Maj. Ramesh Upadhyay and Col. Purohit (in custody for the Malegaon blasts) of attempting to kill Vice-President Hamid Ansari. Singh, also associated with the World Hindu Federation, says: “I had a very good relation with Ashok Singhal from the vhp. He is a great guy but the Sangh men did not let him continue… rss should also pay a price for its betrayal”.

Col. Purohit: “The Israelis ask us to give them proof of our involvement. What more proof do they need? We have done two such operations earlier which were successful. I was the one who had got the equipment for all of them”.

Ramesh Upadhyay: “Hyderabad mein jo bomb blasts kiya thha woh apna hi admi thha. Woh colonel apko batayenge kisne kiya thha. (The Hyderabad blasts were done by our man. The colonel can tell you who it was).”

In a curious twist — and in grotesque proof of the lengths this group is willing to go — the tapes also reveal big fissures within the Sangh Parivar. A week ago, a story broadcast by a television channel obliquely implicated rss leader Indresh Kumar in the terror conspiracy. However, in the tapes accessed by Tehelka, senior rss leader from Pune, Shyam Apte talks of meeting members of Abhinav Bharat. Startlingly, he is recorded talking to Dayanand Pandey about getting ­Indresh Kumar eliminated through a chemical which one of their men was to procure, for not sufficiently supporting their ultra-hardline activities. Pandey says: “Post mortem mein bhi woh cheez nahi aayegi, mere liye toh usmein koi risk nahi hai. (The post-mortem won’t show the chemical, there is no risk for me.) I have told him whatever time it takes, we are fine with it.” To which Apte adds that whatever money is needed for this should be given.

If sources in the Maharashtra ats are to be believed, Apte was on the verge of being arrested in November 2008 and broke down when confronted with the evidence by the ats team. However, ats chief Hemant Karkare died soon after in the Mumbai 26/11 attack and Apte was never arrested. Today, both he and RP Singh are walking free because agencies claim they have no corroborative evidence against them. Apart from these voluntary admissions on tape, of course.

Another example of inexplicable lethargy is Swami Aseemanand, who used to run the Shabri Ashram in the Dangs region of Gujarat. He is an accused in the Malegaon case, and the cbi now believes could be a key figure in the Hyderabad and Mecca Masjid blasts. He was spotted two months ago in Waghai village in Dangs in a blue Santro by local police informers. He was also spotted in April in Mahal district of Gujarat driving a white van. But no move was made against him.

Another despairing investigator says there did not seem to be a will to question vhp leader Pravin Togadia whose name crops up many times in the tapes: “They just could not prove that Togadia had given Rs 1 lakh to Abhinav Bharat. Nor were they able to investigate why Col. Purohit’s email account shriyaak@yahoo.co.in had four email ids of Praveen Togadia.”

YP Singh, ips officer and law expert, is also baffled by the go-slow. “How much really was done to make it a ­watertight case and to put in the dock all those in whose direction the leads were pointing?” he asks. The answers are disturbingly evident.

Read excerpts of transcripts of two tapes

CBI hunts for new clues in Babri report

Mail Today, 26 November 2009

By Aman Sharma in New Delhi

The CBI, after studying the Liberhan report, may file fresh charge sheets against tainted politicians.

THE CBI on Wednesday began studying the Liberhan Commission report.

It is looking for fresh evidence in the report that could call for filing a supplementary charge sheet in ongoing cases against political leaders responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 6, 1992.

The Centre could also formally ask the CBI to study the report and mandate it to look for new evidences to strengthen the prosecution in the ongoing cases. This could happen after the report is discussed in Parliament by December 2. CBI director Ashwani Kumar will be officially handed over a copy of the report, a source said.

A special task force could be set up in the CBI to look into the contents of the Liberhan report. The Union law ministry is also closely studying it.

“ The government has to take a decision on whether the CBI will be mandated to take any action based on the report. This decision could be announced on the floor of the Houses,” a top CBI official said.

“ However, we have already started studying the report on our own because it is now a public document. The CBI is capable of taking suo moto cognisance if we find any evidence in the report that can throw up the need to file a supplementary charge sheet in the cases against the existing accused persons. A senior team of the CBI is already on the job. We could also file a primary charge sheet in case evidence is found against a new accused,” he added.

The Congress also gave hints of the CBI probe. On whether the recommendations of the commission will be handed over to the CBI for further action, party spokesperson, Jayanthi Natarajan said: “ Whatever process of law has to be followed consequent to tabling of the report will be followed.”

Another Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said supplementary charge sheets would be filed. The Action Taken Report of the home ministry mentions that the Centre will take steps to ensure hearings of three cases regarding the Babri demolition are expedited.

The CBI has probed two such cases. One of these is pending before the special court in Lucknow; its FIR is against lakhs of unknown karsevak s.

The second case, pending before the Rae Bareli special court, is against eight accused, including L. K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh, Vinay Katiyar, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmia and Sadhvi Rithambhara. There are 47 more cases pending before the Lucknow special court.

“ Steps would be taken in consultation with the law ministry to expedite the trial of these cases and explore the possibility of filing supplementary charge sheets,” a home ministry official said.

VAGHELA MAY FACE THE MUSIC

The Congress is expected to take cognisance of the involvement of former union minister for textiles Shankar Singh Vaghela in the Babri Masjid demolition. He is one of 68 people, including top BJP and RSS leaders and bureaucrats, indicted by the Liberhan Commission.

Disciplinary action is likely to be taken against him. The party could either expel or suspend him, according to a source. “ If his role in the events leading to the demolition is minimal, the party may show leniency and merely sideline him,” he said.

On whether the party would take disciplinary action against Vaghela, Natarajan said: “ The party will study the case. The party will study the cases of all those indicted.” Vaghela had joined the Congress before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections after promising the party brass that he would help revive it in Gujarat and fight Narendra Modi.

The full text of the Liberhan Commission Report

http://www.sacw.net/article1247.html

Table the Liberhan report (Editorial, The Hindu)

The Hindu
24 November 2009

Editorial

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has declined to confirm or deny the authenticity of the “purported” contents of the Liberhan Commission report leaked to a newspaper and a television channel. From what has been reported, variously and even contradictorily in respect of some key details, Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan’s main findings are as follows. The destruction of the Babri Masjid, far from being “spontaneous,” as bigwigs of the Bharatiya Janata Party have claimed, was systematically planned, “tailor-made” — as revealed by the mode of assault, the small number of kar sevaks (with faces hidden) assigned to the job of demolition, the easy availability of the instruments of destruction, and other preparations onsite. A whole range of sangh parivar organisations under the hegemony of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as well as the Shiv Sena were involved. All this is well known and it is only the detail, the nuances, and the specifics of the evidence presented on the actual perpetrators and the enablers of the vile and barbaric act that will be of fresh interest. Several second-rung BJP leaders have reportedly been indicted by the Liberhan Commission. But what about the role of the top-rung BJP leaders, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, and Murli Manohar Joshi? This part of the Commission’s report probably has the most political punch. The judge has reportedly held them culpable in the matter of creating communal discord, for being party to the fateful decisions, and for lacking the capacity to stand up to the RSS, which used them as pliable “tools.” It is not clear what the Commission’s verdict is on the role of the P.V. Narasimha Rao government, under whose watch the demolition took place. At the very least, it was a dishonourable and tragic role.

The BJP’s petulant allegation that the government “selectively” leaked the report will find few takers, especially when one considers the question of motivation. Why would the government leak the report to the news media at a time when that would pose a real risk of upstaging a high-stake visit by the Prime Minister to Washington? But then the leak occurred because the government sat on the findings of an exercise that took more than 16 years to discover and establish “the sequence of events leading, and all facts and circumstances relating” to the demolition of the Babri Masjid by communal vandals on December 6, 1992. The habit of withholding from Parliament and the public the findings of expensive Commissions of Inquiry, which lack teeth in any case, until ‘action taken’ reports are readied by a slow-moving bureaucracy is indefensible. It devalues the whole exercise, aggravates the already indefensible delays, and serves up plenty of opportunity for motivated campaigns, speculation, and leaks. The news media in the present case, The Indian Express and NDTV 24x7, certainly cannot be faulted for doing their best to penetrate the veil of secrecy and get the essential findings out. This role is demonstrably in the cause of truth-discovery, and serious journalists and editors are not going to be deterred by sanctimonious cries of ‘breach of parliamentary privilege.’ The crime, which resulted in communal violence on a large scale, may have taken place close to 17 years ago but truth-discovery is a pre-requisite for the process of healing wounds and social reconciliation. Learning the right lesson from this episode, the Congress-led government owes it to the nation to table the Liberhan Commission report immediately.

Gujarat ex-minister tells SIT to probe Modi's role in 2002 riots

The 2002 riots were the result of a heinous strategy to communalise society at large with a view to derive political benefits, writes former Gujarat minister and ex-Indian Police Service officer Jaspal Singh to the Special Investigation Team that is looking into the role of Narendra Modi and his colleagues and police officers in the riots. Jaspal Singh, who has been Police Commissioner and mayor of Vadodara, wrote the letter on September 7, 2009 to Dr R K Raghavan, Chairman,
SIT.

http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/sep/10/guj-riots-ex-minister-tells-sit-to-probe-modi.htm

Now that there is proof will the courts pursue the case against Varun Gandhi?

The Times of India

Varun hate speech CD not doctored: Experts

21 Jun 2009, 1010 hrs IST, TIMESOFINDIA.COM

NEW DELHI: In another setback to the BJP as the party meets for its crucial introspection on Lok Sabha poll debacle, forensic experts have said the hate speech CD of the BJP leader and MP from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi, is not doctored.

Sources said the Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad has submitted its report to the District Magistrate of Pilibhit.

Varun had alleged that the CDs were doctored, a line that was also the official BJP stand on the row. He had also refused to give his voice samples for examination.

Varun, who is currently out on bail, has six FIRs against him.

Investigating the Gujarat pogrom of 2002: Will the SIT deliver?

Special Investigation Team (SIT) – Hope Or Despair Of 2002 Gujarat Genocide Victims ?

by R.B.Sreekumar

11 June, 2009
Countercurrents.org

The categorical order by the Apex Court, on 27-4-2009, on the petition by Mrs. Zakia Jafri, W/o Late Ahsan Jafri, the Congress MP killed in the riots and Mrs.Teesta Setalvad, for Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), evoked great hope and expectations in the victims of 2002 genocidal crimes. The Court ordered the SIT “to take steps as required in Law”. Will this order result in delivery of long delayed justice to the sufferers of 2002 carnage or end up in an exercise to cause the least damage to those who conceived, designed, organized, mobilized, prepared and perpetrated the bloodbath on a group of Indian citizens through motivated violent mobs, under the patronage of the state machinery ?

Either of these outcomes is possible. The ball is in the court of the SIT. Incase the SIT is keen to proceed on positive line, it should examine the massive and comprehensive quantum of evidence confirming conspiracy, course and execution of mass crimes and subsequent prolonged and on-going subversion of the Criminal Justice System(CJS), for denying justice to the victims. The evidence in the FIR by Mrs. Jafri graphically portrays a series of circumstances and developments in the form of deliberate and pre-meditated acts of omission and commission by the Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his collaborators and abettors of mass crimes in the bureaucracy, actualizing the bloodbath. There is sufficient prima facie proof in the FIR to testify this.

The first unavoidable step by SIT “as required in law” will be to register an FIR against the accused, in the relevant police station, assume the powers of the Investigating Officer (IO) under chapter 12 of CRPC and commence collection of evidence by invoking all techniques and procedures, viz , interrogation, search, recovery of incriminating material, use of forensic science and so on. The items of evidence, in the FIR, need to be examined by the SIT, point by point and nugget by nugget, for proving or disproving the material therein and draw up the road map towards the final destination of arrest and prosecution of the accused or submission of final report u/s 173 CRPC.

The accused figuring in the Jafri FIR includes the long serving Chief Minister, other Ministers, Assembly Speaker, serving and retired Senior officers, who were/are the hierarchical supervisors of practically all Gujarat Police staff from Addl. DGP Geetha Johari and Shivanand Jha to the constabulary, who are tasked for investigation against their own supervisors. Strangely the authority for performance assessment of these officers, covering even the work regarding the Jafri FIR, is vested with the same departmental bosses, of whom many are accused persons !!!. The recent observations by Apex Court (May 2009), in the case of granting remand to accused of British nationals murder case are illustrative. The Court said “nothing has been pointed out before us “by the SIT” as to why even the bail granted should be cancelled ….. there was no sufficient or cogent material to justify the need for custodial interrogation of the accused”.

Besides, instances of the SIT staff doing the operational work of investigation failing to prevent disappearance of an accused Minister, guarded by a dozen policemen, and later surfacing with anticipatory bail; accused in riots cases in the electoral posts declared as absconders attending meetings of public bodies; failure to collect additional evidence or recover incriminating material even from a few accused taken on remand; inadequate efforts to arrest absconders; and so on prompt one to conclude that many from State police throwing a spanner in the SIT investigation machine remain unchecked. This tendency of the saboteurs would become quite pronounced in the probe against the CM, unless urgent remedial measures are initiated.

Removal of Gujarat police officers in the Jafri FIR from the SIT; freeing of those assisting the SIT from normal police duties and placing them under full control and authority of the Chairman SIT, on pattern of the Election Commission controlling the State officials during the elections; vesting the Chairman with the authority to initiate the Annual Confidential Repot of all officers assisting him in the SIT; move to the Central Govt. to appoint Special Prosecutors to conduct cases investigated by the SIT u/s 24 CRPC; action to permit the complainants of riots cases to keep their lawyers to present their cases alongwith the PPs; induction of officers with integrity and fortitude from outside Gujarat at the cutting edge level of investigation of riots cases, in the ranks of Police Sub Inspector, Inspector and Dy.S.P.; are a few instant exercises imperative for ensuring purposeful and result-oriented investigation of the Jafri FIR.

Press reports indicate that the SIT so far had only informal discussions with the complainants. Neither their FIR was verified, nor statements recorded, nor fresh FIR registered in the Police station. Informal interaction is not recognized by the CRPC as part of enquiry or investigation. Thus one can deem that the action on Jafri FIR, on the Apex Courts orders, before a month, remains a non-starter. This fact throws up signals of despair and anguish for carnage victims.

Indications are that the highly placed accused in the Jafri FIR are moving to ensure that the SIT will do sheer enquiry and not investigation on the Court orders and submit a report by July 2009. They, then, plan to contest adverse references, if any, in the SIT report and thereby avoid possibility of criminal prosecution. Delaying the process is another tactics.

The accused will also convince the SIT and the Court to treat those numerous acts of omission and commission, which virtually facilitated and actualized the mass carnage in 2002, as routine unintentional administrative lapses calling for departmental action without criminal liability. This stance will make acts like, delay in imposition of curfew in Ahmedabad City on the VHP Bandh Day on 28th Feb., 2002 (When maximum killings in the riots took place) for facilitating parading of dead bodies of Godhra fire victims; non implementation of provisions of Gujarat Police Manual, Communal riots schemes and other instructions on control of communal riots; ignoring complaints of riot victims, appointment of the Sangh Parivar office-bearers as PPs to conduct cases against accused in anti-minority crimes etc; as plain predictable functional indiscretions !!!. The Court will also be assured of State Govt. initiating departmental action against the defaulters. This will give a safe burial of all litigations relating to the 2002 genocide. A brilliant defense!!! Capitalizing on the denial of justice to riot victims, the internationally organized Islamic jihadists, would redouble their efforts to recruit more dejected riot victims to their fold for pursuing terrorist objectives.

Being fully confident about the proven eminence and integrity of the Chairman of the SIT, well meaning citizens are optimistic about positive move from the SIT, soon, against the planners and executioners of 2002 butchery of the innocents in Gujarat.

R.B.Sreekumar is a former DGP - Gujarat, who stood upto Narendra Modi in the immediate aftermath of Gujarat carnage

So What Happened to the Malegaon Probe? All forgotten and scuttled is it?

[It is pretty astonishing the complete blackout in the Media and even in secular activist circles of the famous case involving the Ahinav Bharat Terror sqaud. The Bombay attacks seem to have wiped out all public memory on the Malegaon investigation.
Posted below is a rare media report, that too from families of the people who had been possibly falsely implicated before Abhinav Bharat's hand was discovered. Isnt it time to to ask who is intersted in scuttling the Malegaon Probe? -hk]

o o o

Theindian.com

Wives of Malegaon bombing accused urge quick CBI probe

June 9th, 2009 - 9:08 pm

P. Chidambaram New Delhi, June 9 (IANS) The wives of the nine men accused in the bomb blasts in Malegaon appealed Tuesday to Home Minister P. Chidambaram to expedite the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the terrorist attack.
“The home minister has promised us that the CBI will present a report of the Malegaon blast case on Wednesday. For the last three years our husbands have been behind bars and we had no clue about the progress in the case,” Qamar Jahan, wife of accused Shabbir Ahmad, said here after the nine women met Chidambaram Monday and submitted a memorandum.

A series of blasts rocked Malegaon minutes after the Friday prayers Sep 8, 2006, leaving 40 people dead. Investigators have blamed members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) for the blasts.

The investigation was handed over to the CBI in December 2006.

Badrunnisa Raees Ahmad, wife of accused Raees Ahmad, said: “After another blast in Malegoan in 2008, the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) exposed the hidden face of the Hindu radical group, Abhinav Bharat, and arrested Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt. Col. Prasad Srikant Purohit Singh.

“The ATS has linked the Abhinav Bharat with the 2006 Malegaon blast too. This proves the innocence of our husbands,” she said.

Samreen Firdous Noorul-Huda, wife of Firdous Noorul-Huda, added: “We have requested the home minister to direct the CBI to immediately submit the report. We have not been given justice though our husbands are innocent.”

Teesta Setalvad and Jakia Jafri depose at the SIT probe on Gujarat riots of 2002

Daily News and Analysis

SIT hears Jakia Jafri, Teesta

They allege that at a Feb 27, 2002, meeting, the CM told cops to go easy on rioters

DNA Correspondent. Gandhinagar

Social activist Teesta Setalvad and Jakia Jafri, widow of the slain Congress MP Ahesan Jafri, on Tuesday told the special investigation team (SIT) probing the statewide riots of 2002 that Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was to blame for the riots. Setalvad and Jakia Jafri had been summoned by the SIT which has been directed by the Supreme Court to investigate the role of Modi and 62 other politicians and bureaucrats, in the riots of 2002. In their hour-long deposition before the investigation team, Jakia Jafri and Setalvad told the SIT chief, RK Raghavan, about the meeting that was allegedly convened by Modi in the chief minister's chamber on the night of February 27, 2002. At the meeting, Modi had allegedly ordered that police officials should "lie low and allow people of Gujarat to express their anger". Speaking to media persons outside the SIT office in Gandhinagar, Jakia Jafri said, "It was because of the CM's instructions that the police did nothing to stop the rioters." Setalvad also told the SIT that information about the meeting convened by the chief minister in his chamber on February 27, 2002 was given by former minister of state, home, Haren Pandya, in his deposition before a citizen's tribunal on May 13, 2002. "I, along with at least five other members of the tribunal, was present at Pandya's deposition where he revealed the details of the order that the chief minister had given on the night of February 27," Setalvad said. Raghavan later told reporters that Setalvad was summoned by the SIT as part of its investigation into the role of Modi and other politicians and bureaucrats in the riots of 2002. • More on p2 & 14

Copyright Permission www.3dsyndication.com

SIT begins the probe in Gujarat

Indian Express

SIT begins probing Modi role, first call to Jafris

Express news service Posted: Tuesday , May 26, 2009 at 0354 hrs IST

Gandhinagar:

The SIT on Tuesday began probing the role, if any, of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 62 others in the 2002 riots in Gujarat which officially left 1,180 dead.

The Supreme Court’s order to the SIT followed a complaint filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was among those killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre during the riots. Besides seeking a probe into the role of the 63 persons, Zakia had also raised several other questions.

“We began the inquiry today into Zakia Jafri’s petition by calling the petitioner herself to our office in Gandhinagar. We had a long interaction with her, and she narrated the allegations she made in her petition,” said SIT chief and former CBI Director R K Raghavan.

During her half-an-hour interaction, Zakia mainly focused on a meeting of February 27, 2002 where she alleged Chief Minister Narendra Modi had directed the police “to remain silent and allow Hindus to vent their anger”. The meeting called by the CM to review the law and order situation arising out of the torching of Sabarmati Express at Godhra was attended by some ministers, the then ACS (Home) Ashok Narayan and DGP K Chakravarti.

“I have requested the SIT to thoroughly probe the role of Modi and other 62 persons in the post-Godhra riots. The SIT chief has assured me that his team will inquire into all the questions raised in the petition filed in the Supreme Court,” Zakia said later.

Teesta Setalvad of the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and Zakia’s son Tanvir were also present during the interaction. A co-petitioner, Teesta said she had also requested the SIT to take note of the late BJP leader Haren Pandya’s statement before the Concerned People’s Tribunal, headed by Justice Krishna Aiyar, on what transpired at the February 27 meeting.

BJP succumbs to Moditva: Its response to courts move to re-investigate Gujarat carnage

Order To Re-Investigate Gujarat Carnage

BJP succumbs to Moditva

by Praful Bidwai

Has the Bharatiya Janata Party abandoned even the pretence of playing by the rules of democratic game and decided that it's not bound by any considerations of minimum political decorum and that it must stoop to the lowest possible level whenever it's questioned or challenged? Going by its reaction to the Supreme Court's order to the Special Investigation Team to inquire into the alleged role of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, his ministers and officials in instigating and abetting the terrible communal violence of 2002, that would indeed seem to be so.

The Court's stipulation that the SIT must complete the investigation within three months is a sign that seven years after the violence laid 2,000 people dead, the Gujarat pogrom continues to have distressing, haunting, gnawing significance for Indian democracy, and for the public debate on the rights and wrongs of politics.

The latest order is on a par with the Supreme Court's recent directions to transfer major legal cases pertaining to the carnage out of Gujarat. Put starkly, it's a frank expression of a lack of faith in the ability and inclination of the Gujarat administration under BJP rule to do a modicum of justice to the tens of thousands of victims of the orgy of killing, rape, arson and looting that Gujarat witnessed after the Godhra train tragedy of February 27.
However, instead of recognising its gravity, the BJP leadership has chosen to pour scorn on the Supreme Court order, maligning it as politically motivated and timed because it was pronounced three days before polling day in the general elections in Gujarat. Mr Modi has melodramatically pledged to go to jail if found guilty, but to be "reborn to serve Gujarat".

The BJP's abrasive self-styled legal luminary Arun Jaitly has declared that "there isn't a whisper of evidence so far" to indict Mr Modi and that Gujarat's Slobodan Milosevic will fight off the "secular brigade's" attack on him and "turn it to his advantage" in the elections, where the BJP hopes to improve on its 2004 score of 14 out of 26 seats.

It's not clear whether Mr Jaitly includes Supreme Court judges and the SIT in the "secular brigade". But the SIT cannot be accused of secularist zeal. Since it was set up under former CBI director RK Raghavan by the Supreme Court in 2008, the outfit has only filed one new chargesheet in the 10 cases it has investigated. That indicted Maya Kodnani and Jaydeep Patel in the Naroda Patiya case. The SIT had no choice given the irrefutable evidence of their involvement in the massacre through records of mobile phone-calls.

The SIT has now been asked to investigate the complaint made by petitioner Zakia Nasim Ahsan, widow of former MP Ehsaan Jafri. This names Mr Modi and 62 other functionaries of the Gujarat government, including 11 Cabinet ministers, three sitting MLAs and 38 ranking bureaucrats and police officers. Among the latter are the then State Chief Secretary and Director General of Police.

Based on the diaries maintained by a senior police official, eyewitness accounts and detailed media reports, the petition alleges that Mr Modi's Cabinet met after the Godhra incident, and ordered top civil servants and policemen to allow "Hindus" (read, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, RSS and Bajrang Dal thugs) "to vent their anger". It decided to back the bandh called the next day by militant Hindutva groups.

This is in line with the findings of more than 30 independent reports compiled painstakingly by national and international citizens' initiatives, former bureaucrats, scholars, feminists, civil society organisations, and human rights groups. In essence, they show that following Mr Modi's directives of February 27/28, Gujarat's government machinery refused to restrain armed mobs from killing Muslims, raping and sexually humiliating Muslim women, burning down their homes, destroying mosques, and pillaging property worth Rs 4,000 crores.
Two ministers (Ashok Bhatt and IK Jadeja) positioned themselves in police control rooms or police chiefs' chambers and prevented personnel from being sent to rescue people targeted by mobs, or to douse fires. Acting in collusion with the ministers, state DGP K Chakravarthi and Ahmedabad Police Commissioner PC Pandey delayed imposing curfew and preventing the butchery of Muslims although they had prior intelligence on the impending attacks.

What followed was Independent India's worst-ever communal carnage conducted with state backing and sponsorship, which involved elaborate planning and preparation, and later, extensive cover-up and destruction of material evidence.
These facts are far too well-established to need more substantiation. The only way to hide and suppress them is to refuse to record them in Station House diaries or First Information Reports, distort them through "rolling FIRs", or name nobody for sinister acts of violence. This is precisely what the Modi government did. It also systematically rigged further inquiries through the Nanavati Commission and sabotaged the CBI's investigations by destroying records, abducting reliable witnesses, and leading false evidence.

This only further compounded the original offences, themselves grave. The groundwork had already been laid by April 2002 for the charades of inquiry and prosecution that followed, in which perpetrators of heinous crimes were shielded or exculpated.

This seven-year-long process of systematic sabotage and destruction of the very possibility of justice could have been pre-empted and prevented had the Central government dismissed Mr Modi in early March 2002 and imposed President's Rule on Gujarat. That was the only right way of dealing with a clear and indisputable Constitutional breakdown.

But the BJP-led government in New Delhi wasn't going to do this. Beyond expressing tokenist concern and appealing for restraint-as if there were two sides to blame for the violence-it did nothing. It wouldn't have brought Gujarat under President's Rule unless it was pushed hard in an unrelenting campaign by the secular opposition.

Gujarat's second tragedy was that the secular parties failed to mount sustained pressure on the Vajpayee government. Had all the top leaders of the non-NDA parties resorted to extraordinary actions, they could have generated irresistible pressure-actions such as launching relay dharnas in all state capitals, and sitting on a collective fast-unto-death in Gandhinagar. Even Morarji Desai had succeeded in 1974 in securing the dismissal of the Chimanbhai Patel government by going on a hunger-strike for a far lesser offence: corruption.

Gujarat's third tragedy was that the state-level opposition didn't even try to mobilise powerful protests. It failed by default. Mr Modi continued to tyrannise Gujarat, making a mockery of the Constitution, gutting institution after institution, and effectively disenfranchising and politically disempowering not just Muslims, who form 12 percent of Gujarat's population, but a much larger chunk of secular non-Muslims too.

Then followed the fourth tragedy: Assembly elections, when lakhs of victims continued to live in fear in makeshift camps amidst. Such was the prolonged breakdown of law and order that even High Court judges and Inspectors-Generals of Police had to flee their homes because they happened to be Muslim. By late 2002, communal polarisation had grown into near-apartheid. To conduct elections amidst such abnormal conditions is to mock democracy.

The BJP, and in particular, the man who presided over the butchery of 2002, deserves to be politically punished, even if some criminal cases against the culprits cannot be brought to completion soon. Assuming that the SIT conducts an honest job, it will still take years for the 63 people named for instigating the riots in Ms Ahsan's petition to be brought to justice.

However, some minimal justice will be done if the public delivers a stinging rebuff to Mr Modi and his ideology of Moditva (bloodsoaked Hindutva, coupled with a celebration of ruthlessness, machismo and pitiless disregard for the norms of democracy) by voting against the BJP and sending it packing from the political arena, thus rendering it insignificant.

By the time these lines appear in print, polling will have ended in Gujarat. But people in other states will still have a chance to register their disgust with the BJP's utterly divisive, exclusionist and hate-filled politics. This is not a call for vindictiveness. The Congress has at least apologised for the 1984 anti-Sikh violence and withdrawn Messrs Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar's candidature. The BJP continues to be in denial of the Gujarat pogrom. It must be punished more severely than in 2004 because it's consciously embracing Moditva today.

A campaign was launched even before the Supreme Court order to promote Mr Modi as the BJP's Prime Minister-in-waiting after Mr LK Advani. It was initiated by two senior BJP leaders, Arun Shourie and Arun Jaitly. In part, this campaign is explained by the BJP's own disenchantment with Mr Advani, whose leadership has failed to impress its members. In part, it's meant to promote a new concept of ubermensch (Superman)-style leadership, which delights in ruthlessness, undemocratic elitism and "getting things done" (for the privileged, as in the case of the big, ugly subsidies given to Tata Motors), and yes, cruelty. The BJP's caving-in to Moditva will be an even greater disgrace than its humiliation at the hustings.