Tuesday, Jul 29, 2003
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Gujarat
By Manas Dasgupta
Appearing before the Nanavati-Shah Judicial Commission inquiring into the Godhra train carnage and the post-Godhra riots in the State, Rashida Banu claimed that her husband, Yusuf Khan, was picked up from her residence in Beldarbar bylane around midnight of March 1 last year. She said that police told her that they were taking Yusuf Khan for "some questioning" in connection with some incidents earlier. However, when he did not return home, she and her sister-in-law decided to go to the police station. On the way, she was accosted by some people and was told that "a body" was lying on the road. When she found that it was her husband's body with bullet marks, she went to lodge a complaint with the Shahpur police station for the "cold-blooded murder" of her husband. But they abused her and turned her away without registering her complaint, she claimed. Rashida Banu's was one of the very few depositions against the police and the State administration as the G.T. Nanavati and K. G. Shah Commission resumed the second phase of public hearing in the Shahpur police area today. Another resident, Mohammad Hanif, told mediapersons that he too had complaints of "police harassment" but would depose before the commission only if he was guaranteed safety and protection.
`Inadequate compensation'
In all 141 people in 35 different groups appeared before the Commission today but most of them only talked of "inadequate compensation" by the administration. A large number of Hindu riot victims also deposed before the commission. Most of those who deposed today were women from the poorer sections of society. Several witnesses, such as Dahiyaben, Champaben and others complained of the "paltry" amount they received from the administration. A Muslim leader who was running a relief camp, claimed that while the cumulative loss of the riot victims in his camp ran to over Rs. 95 lakhs, they received a compensation of just Rs. 2 lakhs. Except for Rashida Banu and a few others, most people were appreciative of the police action giving them protection to ward off disturbances. The Hindu and Muslim leaders of Naginawad told the Commission that the two communities were living together peacefully for years and did not allow the situation to deteriorate even during the worst days of the riots. They claimed that the police presence also helped to reduce tension.
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