[Reader-list] Fw: Piece on Gujarat

[Rakesh]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rakesh 
To: newsletter at sarai.net 
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 11:01 AM
Subject: Piece on Gujarat


  
THE CASE OF EXHUMATIONS AND SALTED BODIES: THE NEED FOR IMPARTIAL INVETIGATIONS

 

Sprinkling of salt on bodies to ensure early disintegration, recovery of human remains on exhumation from collective graves reminiscent of Nazi Germany, is the scenario unfolding in the Bilkis Bano case, the solitary case that the Apex Court has thought fit to direct the CBI to investigate.

 The order by Head Constable Nalpat Singh to the panch witnesses to buy salt to decompose bodies and the impending arrest of the Deputy Superintendent of Police Ramon Bhagora are illustrative of the nature and extent of cover-up by the Gujarat Police. However, it is no one's case that these policemen had any personal 'animus' in the matter. The probable involvement of Jaswant Bhabhor, the then state civil supplies minister is a pointer towards the reasons which motivated the Gujarat Police personnel to, instead of collecting evidence of grave crimes like murder and rape as per their bounden duty, destroy, hide and tamper with crucial evidence to protect the perpetrators.

 The substantive evidence and findings literally 'unearthed' in this single case, which had been 'closed' by the police, points to the urgent necessity of independent investigation into the scores of other incidents of murder, rape and burnings which occurred at the time in Gujarat. Infact, in the tempo-burning Limadya Chokdi case in Panchmahals district, sixty-seven persons were killed and burnt in front of witnesses, yet the official death count stands at eight. The rest are supposedly 'missing' with their next-of-kin not even eligible for the compensation given to the dead. It is well nigh impossible to cause a human body to vanish totally as evidence remains even after burning. However, no effort was made to collect bone fragments and other remains for DNA testing to identify and determine the number of the dead. 

 Sardarpura with thirty-three persons killed in a single attack, Anjanwa with eleven women and children including three babies killed and thrown in a well, little Noorjahan and Arif with their 'chacha' from Visnagar, the only survivors and eye-witnesses to the murder of their parents and family members, a concrete list of specific incidents is available. Nothing prevents the 'feel-good' Central Government or the Gujarat Government from ordering an impartial investigation, except perhaps the fear of involvement of their party personnel in the crimes. 

 Given the rich 'dividends' from the investigation into the Bilkis case, it is likely that investigation into the other incidents would establish the larger conspiracy which lead to the massive violence, subsequent cover-up and such a total failure of the rule of law.

  Bilkis herself was raped, her mother, sisters and aunt raped and killed indicating the centrality of sexual violence in the pogrom against Muslims. A recent report, 'Threatened Existence: A Feminist Analysis of the Genocidal Project in Gujarat' by the International Initiative for Justice in Gujarat, brings out clearly that the sexual assaults were not a case of random, impulsive or isolated incidents. Drawing parallels with Nazi propaganda about Jews as rapists of Aryan girls, the report establishes the conscious strategy to use mass rapes and sexual assault of Muslim women to subjugate and humiliate the community.  

 

 Rakesh Shukla

(Edited version IE February 13)

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