Court verdict brings relief to the victims and relatives of 97 Muslims massacred in Naroda Patia in Gujarat By Latheef Farook

Ninety seven Muslims were massacred and hundreds of Muslim women were gang raped in one day by Hindu fascists in the poverty stricken Muslim area of Naroda Patia in Gujarat during the 28 February 2002 genocide of Muslims.   

Two of the people who led the gang in the massacre of Muslims were leader of Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, and former Gujarat State Minister Mayaben Kodnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi. It is common knowledge that BJP and Bajrang Dal were fronts for the Hindu fascist anti-Muslim Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh-RSS.

The massacre was organized by Vishwa Hindu Parishad-VHP- yet another RSS front.

On 29 August 2012 a court in Ahmedabad sentenced Mayaben Kodnani, also a gynecologist, to 28 years of imprisonment while Babu Bajrangi, accused of disemboweling a pregnant Muslim woman with a sword, was given life sentence.

Kodnani, a three-time MLA has been a  loyalist of BJP leader L.K.Advani, known   Hindu fascist who went on  Rath Yatra, whipped up anti-Muslim feelings and triggered a communal violence  which  killed thousands of Muslims. He was  not only the main architect but also supervised the demolition of Babri Masjid. The shameful state of affairs in Indian democracy is that this very same  Advani, soaked so much in Muslim blood, is a prominent opposition leader and the BJP remains the main opposition party.

In delivering the verdict the judge observed that   instances of rape and gang rape of the hapless Muslim women during the riots were established beyond doubt but she was not sentencing anyone for the crime because it was not possible to pinpoint the identity of the culprits. However, Ms. Yagnik identified one survivor of the gang rape and ordered the State government to pay her a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh at the earliest.

Holy looking fascist thug Babu Bajrangi and   gynecologist mobster  Mayaben Kodnani, disgrace to peace loving and god fearing Hindus.

Describing the communal violence as “cancer in society,” Ms. Yagnik said  “This was a pre-planned conspiracy and it cannot be mitigated by just saying that it was a reaction to the Godhra train burning incident,” the judge observed. “Nobody can be allowed to take the law into their own hands because India is a country that upholds the rule of law.”

On the Naroda-Patiya violence, Ms. Yagnik said, “acts of communal violence are brutal, inhuman and shameful. Naroda-Patiya was a clear incident of human rights violation and the   climax of this inhuman and brutal act of violence was reflected in the murder of an infant who was barely 20 days old.”

According to Indian media   survivors and witnesses of the carnage celebrated the special court verdict   though   they will never be able to pardon Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the architect of the massacre of Muslims in 2002.

The road to justice was not an easy one to walk, but these women witnesses in the Naroda massacre case stood strong. Kauser Bano, Shakila Bano and Nasreen Sheikh, shunned all inhibitions to testify against more than 10 convicts, all women, in the case .Such is their story that Naroda Patia residents are mulling over ways to honor these women.

“When I decided to become a witness for months I woke up at midnight due to a scary dream," said Nasrin, 25.  The three ladies who had hardly ventured out of their houses in their life before, becoming witnesses and ultimately proved to be vital in nailing the convicts. "In our family, women are hardly involved with legal matters. But this case needed us. Though it took a toll on our lives we didn't back out," said Kauser.

"What was the fault of people of Naroda Patiya? What wrong had small children done that they were killed mercilessly?" questions Shakeela Bano, a Naroda Patiya riot victim, who is still haunted by images of her children being brutally murdered.

Abdul Sheikh can still hardly believe that the doctor ,Mayaben Kodnani,who had performed an ultrasound scan on his pregnant wife turned out to be a ringleader in the orgy of violence that killed both the mother and her unborn child.

"I remember hearing the commotion and I rushed out to find Dr. Kodnani inciting a mob of thousands, screaming 'kill those bastards!'," said Sheikh, one of the witnesses whose testimony led last week to the jailing of 31 people for hunting down and slaughtering. There were eyewitness accounts of Kodnani handing out swords to Hindu thugs and urging them on to dozens of Muslims in 2002.

These days there are no signs of the terror that gripped Naroda Patiya, a Muslim-dominated slum in the Gujarati city of Ahmedabad, on February 28, 2002. Children play with goats and chickens in cobble-stoned alleys, while women bask in the sun on the porches of their tiny green, pink and blue houses.

Still, people cannot forget the thick smoke that engulfed their neighborhood, the shattering of glass, the gunshots and the 97 relatives and friends who were hacked, beaten or burnt to death in the highly organized attack, the worst incident of bloodletting during the riots.

School teacher Nazir Khan remembers hiding with his wife in an underground water tank for over four hours as the mob looted his home, smashed furniture and set his house ablaze.

"I could hear their muffled voices saying 'we must finish those leeches today', while we almost choked on the smoke," said Khan. "I always thought these scenes happened in movies, but I was wrong. Each traumatic second of that day is etched in my mind." .

underground water tank for over four hours as the mob looted his home, smashed furniture and set his house ablaze.

“Our real Id is today,” Fatima Bano, one of the eyewitnesses of the gruesome massacre, said . “We waited for justice for 10 long years but today our departed beloveds will finally be in peace,” she said. She and other victims said the way they had been living for 10 years with the nightmarish experience and without their loved ones, “the families of the convicted will now start realising what it is to live without your near and dear ones.”

 Shakeela, her husband, her mother, two children and others were praying the mayhem would not reach Naroda Patiya in Ahmedabad. Then a VHP sponsored   murderous mob attacked the area. For almost the entire day they tried escaping the mob's fury, pleading for mercy. But they weren't spared; eight members of her family were killed.

"We only want those who have committed this heinous act should be punished. Imagine how innocent people were killed mercilessly. What was their fault? Punish those who were responsible for Godhra, be it Muslims or Hindus," said Shakeela.

Shopkeeper Nazeer Mohammad was lucky, but he is still trying to piece his life together. His family managed to escape the rioters, but their home, business and all their savings were gone in the anarchy that followed.

"They first took away whatever they could lay their hands on. My wife used to sell bangles from home… that was also looted… all valuables were taken away before they set the house afire," recalls Nazeer.

In contrast, the families of the convicts were in total anguish. Many of the family members waiting outside the court room were heard shouting anti-Modi slogans alleging that the government had let them down in their hour of need.

Father Cedric Prakash, director, NGO Prashant, which was co-ordinating with the Mumbai-based Citizens for Justice and Peace in helping the riot victims, said the judgment was a “step in the right direction” and should come as a “severe warning to several more high-profile politicians and others who still stand accused in the courts of law on various charges committed during those bloody days of 2002.”  

A destroyed Muslim Colony near Bahtla area, Ahmedabad	Jawed, whose father, mother and sister were burnt alive in front of him at Naroda, Patia, Ahmedabad

 

 

 

Safia, whose husband Qasim Shaikh was burnt alive	Balqis Yaqub Patel (Godhra) (she is the lone survivers in her family of 30.  She was also repeatedly raped)
Ambica Mill Chali Khokhar Bridge	Shah Alam Camp, Ahmedabad

(Details were gathered from the Indian media)