Apex Court Directs Gujarat Govt. To Review 2000 Riot Cases

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The Court directed the DGP to inform it directly every three months about the progress made in this regard.

Of the 4200 odd riot cases in, which first information report (FIR) was registered by the Gujarat Police, over 2000 such cases were closed by the cops, saying they could not trace the culprits.

The Court asked the state government to file an affidavit by Monday giving details of the riot cases in which the accused have been acquitted and also details of those cases in which the state appealed against acquittal.

The Apex Court also asked the Advocate General of the state to be present before it on Monday to apprise the Court about the procedure relating to the filing of appeals before the higher courts in the riot cases.

Earlier on Monday, the Court appointed P R Vakil and Manjula Rao as the new Public Prosecutors (PP) in the Best Bakery riot case.

Rao will assist Vakil in trial of the case before the designated court at Mumbai to try the 2002 case in which 12 Muslims were burnt live by a mob in Baroda town of Gujarat.

The court also asked the Gujarat government to clarify within four weeks what steps it has taken against those who were intimidating the witnesses in the case.

The Supreme Court also issued contempt notices to seven accused, asking them as to why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against them for not surrendering before the trial court.

It also asked Gujarat Government to file an affidavit within four weeks stating steps taken by it to take action against those who had threatened the witnesses to give contradictory statements before the court in Gujarat before the trial was shifted to Maharashtra.

It is worth mentioning here that the apex court had on April 12 this year transferred the trial of the Best Bakery case from Gujarat to Maharashtra on the allegation of the victims that the police was hand in glove with the accused and the witnesses in the case were being intimidated.

The Court noted today that in the April 12 judgement, it had directed the accused persons to surrender before the trial court at Mumbai forthwith.

It found that 14 of the accused have already been arrested, seven were yet to present themselves before the court.

Taking serious note of this lapse, the Court issued contempt notices to the seven accused and directed Gujarat Government to notify this order in a Gujarati daily.

Representatives of the victims say they are pleased with the decision of the court.

"The main thing that the Supreme Court has said is that the prosecutors asked for by the victims should be assigned to them. The court has also asked the Gujarat government to respond by affidavit as to who are the people who threatened the victims. Here the Court is pointing towards Madhu Srivastava and Chandrakant Srivastava, questioning the action taken against the two by the government. The court will hear the matter again after 4 weeks," said Teesta Setalvad, Co-petitioner.

In its last hearing in the case, the Supreme Court had reprimanded the Gujarat government and the Public Prosecutor appointed by Gujarat for opposing arrest warrants against the accused.

Severely criticising the Public Prosecutor, the apex court hinted at a change, saying, "Such a person should not continue. The trial court wants to issue non-bailable arrest warrants, the Public Prosecutor opposes it. What type of Public Prosecutor is he who opposes issuance of arrest warrants against the accused. You are showing your true colours from the first day".

The Vadodara police has managed to round up only six of the 21 accused in the past four months. The DG of the Gujarat Police now has one week to apprehend the accused and produce them before a trial court.

Earlier this year the Supreme Court ordered a fresh investigation into the case and a retrial to be heard in neighbouring Maharashtra.

It followed the acquittal of 21 Hindus accused of killing the Muslims in a bakery during the communal riots in the state.

The Best Bakery case, named after the bakery in the city of Baroda where the Muslims were burned, is often cited by human rights groups as evidence that victims of the Gujarat riots received little justice.

More than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed in the 2002 riots, which took place after a suspected Muslim mob attacked a train in Godhra town, killing nearly 59 Hindu passengers, mostly ‘kar sevaks’, returning from Ayodhya, Utter Pradesh.

In April the Supreme Court ordered that a retrial in the case should take place in neighbouring Maharashtra state, following a demand for a new trial by India's Human Rights Commission.

The acquittals in the original case took place after many witnesses withdrew their evidence - later a key witness said she had lied in court and not testified against the accused because she said she had been threatened by senior Gujarati politicians.

The Gujarat communal riots deeply divided Hindus and Muslims living in the state and left a deep scar on the Muslim minority.

Human rights groups and independent organisations accused the Narendra Modi-headed state government, of doing little to stop the rioters. Meanwhile in Ahmedabad, the Nanawati commission that is looking at the Gujarat riots is cross-examining former Ahmedabad Police Commissioner, P C Pandey, who was chief of police in the city during the riots.

On Monday the commission had questioned the then DGP of Gujarat, K Chakravarti.