Gujarat Riots:  How numerous got justice and how numerous were hopeless.  

In 2002, Gujarat witnessed a series of violent incidents and Riots between Hindus and Muslims. The violence was touched off by the burning of a train carrying Hindu pilgrims in the city of Godhra which left 59 people dead.

This incident sparked off a surge of collaborative violence across the state which resulted in the deaths of over 1000 people, the utmost of whom were Muslims.

The Gujarat Riots caused a deep peak between the two communities and the situation remains tense to this day. 

There have been multitudinous sweatshops to bring about conciliation and heal the injuries of the 2002 violence, but the scars remain, and the Gujarat Riots continue to be a sensitive content.     

Vora is one of the victims of the Gujarat Riots who feel that justice has not been done to them. He lives in Samartha, a small village in Anand quarter.

When we asked him why he left his ancestral property, Idris said that he didn’t want to go back. 

He says,” No one should ever have to see what I’ve seen. This shouldn’t be to anyone.”  

He says that there were 80 indicted in the murder of his family members but none of them are in jail. According to Idreesh, everyone has got bail from the court.   

Salim Sheikh, the main substantiation in the Naroda Patiya case, testified against former BJP MLA Maya Kodnani. Salim Shaikh says that he has been fighting for justice for the last 20 years.  

Kodnani was considered the main conspirator in the Naroda Patiya case in the trial court, but Kodnani has been granted bail. Salim Sheikh asks, tell me what was achieved after so numerous times of struggle? The Supreme Court has lately given its final verdict on Zakia Jafri’s complaint. Acting after the verdict, the Gujarat Police registered a case against moral rights activist Teesta Setalvad, former DGP RB Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt and arrested all three. 

All three have been indicted of setting a conspiracy to defame the state government. This step of the Gujarat government is also being criticized at the public and transnational position. 

It’s worth noting then that the Supreme Court had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the basis of Zakia Jafri’s complaint. 

Zakia Jafri is the wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. In the 2002 Riots, 69 people including Ahsan Jafri were killed in the Gulbarg Society butchery. 

Zakia Jafri had filed a complaint against 63 people, including the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, on the basis of which the Supreme Court had constituted the SIT.    

Conclusion for Gujarat Riots

The Gujarat Riots of 2002 were a woeful and painful event in the history of India. The Riots stressed the deep- confirmed collaborative pressures that had been stewing in India for decades and the need for better governance to help such an event from happening again.

The Government of India and the Gujarat Government have taken way to address the collaborative pressures and have enforced peace enterprise to promote collaborative harmony. 

Despite these measures, the impact of the Riots and the mistrust between religious communities remain.

Therefore, it’s essential for the Government and civil society to continue to promote interfaith dialogue and collective respect in order to ensure that collaborative pressures don’t formerly again lead to violence in Gujarat or any other part of India.