[Reader-list] Special Investigation Team (SIT) – Hope Or Despair Of 2002 Gujarat Genocide Victims ? By R.B.Sreekumar

[Venugopalan K M]

 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





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