The Hindu : Violence claims three more lives in Gujarat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 02, 2002

National

National

Violence claims three more lives in Gujarat

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD APRIL 1. Three persons were killed in police firing in fresh violence that spread to newer areas in riot-torn Gujarat on Sunday while most parts of the city remained incident-free today.

The police commissioner, P.C. Pande, who attributed the renewed violence to "rumour mongering'', said police was devising new methods to curb unruly mobs from coming out on the streets and creating panic among rival communities. But, he was confident that the worst was over and the situation would fast return to normality. There was no sign of any "minority backlash'' in the city, he added.

Mr. Pande said police mobile vans, fitted with video cameras, would move round the city and film the mobs to identify the mischief-mongers in case of any untoward incidents.

On the incidents in the curfew-bound Vejalpur locality on Sunday, where two groups fought pitched battles till well past midnight, needing Army assistance to bring the situation under control, he said they were caused by rumours.

The disturbances, meanwhile, spread to newer areas such as Narsanda, Boriyavi, Chaklasi and other small towns and villages in central and north Gujarat where mobs set fire to houses and shops belonging to a minority community and tried to damage some places of worship. An indefinite curfew was clamped in these towns and the situation was reported to be tense but under control.

At least one person was killed in Cambay and Petlad towns in Kaira district in police firing and one was stabbed to death in Kadi town in Mehsana district as violence re-erupted in the curfew-bound towns late in the night. At least three persons were killed in Cambay and Petlad in police firing earlier in the day to control mob violence.

While curfew was relaxed in six police station areas of Kalupur, Dariapur, Shahpur, Karanj, Gaekwad Haveli, and Vejalpur for nine hours from 9 a.m. and would be extended further by one hour tomorrow, no relaxation was given in Gomtipur, where three persons were killed on Saturday.

There was no curfew relaxation in Modasa, Prantij, Petlad, Cambay, Chaklasi, Boriyavi and several other smaller towns. Night curfew remained in force in Baroda, Broach, Anand, Nadiad, and about a dozen other riot-hit towns and villages.

Tribunal set up

A "Concerned Citizens' Tribunal'' on the lines of the Indian People's Tribunal consisting of a number of retired judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts and other prominent citizens has been set up to probe into the Godhra train carnage and the post-Godhra violence in various parts of Gujarat.

The tribunal, including Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, Justice P.B. Sawant, Justice Kuldip Singh, Justice Hosbet Suresh, and Justice Rajinder Sachar, would begin its sittings from mid-April in Ahmedabad, Baroda and Godhra, worst-hit cities in the violence, and continue for about a fortnight to hear public grievances.

Fr. Cedric Prakash, one of the conveners of the tribunal, said it would be up to the Gujarat Government to defend itself before the tribunal. "Notices would also be issued to the Government like others but there would be no compulsion for it as the tribunal has no legal standing. But, if the Government had nothing to hide, it should have no objections against the functioning of the tribunal in a democratic country.''

The terms of reference of the tribunal include investigation into the fallout of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple movement in Uttar Pradesh, including the demolition of the Babri mosque, the atmosphere and incidents in the State thereafter, the political policies followed by the BJP Government in the State since 1998, the facts of the incidents and circumstances behind the Godhra carnage in Gujarat, including whether the train attack was pre-planned and guided by a foreign hand, and the causes of the post-Godhra riots.

NCM summons Gujarat officials

Our New Delhi Special Correspondent reports:

Dissatisfied with the information furnished by the Gujarat administration on the violence in the State, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has summoned the State Chief Secretary and Home Secretary to appear before it on Saturday. A decision to this effect was taken at an emergency meeting of the commission today.

The NCM has asked the State officials to bring along with them the list of persons killed in the violence and the arrests made.

It has directed them to appraise it of the measures taken by the Government to stop the violence.

Meanwhile, the senior vice-president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Giriraj Kishore, has written to the NCM member, Tarlochan Singh, reiterating that his organisation had never planned to take out the ashes of the Godhra victims in a `kalash yatra' across the country as had been reported in a section of the media.

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