13 years of Gujarat riots: A demand by Congress and an outraged British family

Gujarat 2002 riots

Apprehending a deliberate delay by the BJP-led Gujarat government in the tabling of Justice Nanavati Commission's final report on the 2002 Gujarat riots in the ongoing Assembly session, the opposition Congress has said it will approach Speaker Ganpat Vasava to seek early tabling. Saturday is the thirteenth anniversary of the Gujarat riots, in which over 1000 people, mostly Muslims were killed.

Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar alleged that the government would avoid discussion on the report by tabling it on the last day of the session. "We are 100 percent sure that the BJP government will table the report on the last day so that the house can not discuss the findings. They used same tactic for CAG reports, which are always tabled on the last day," he said.

The government was trying every trick in the book to avoid discussion and face questions in the House, he alleged. "Congress MLAs will soon meet the Speaker to demand that the report be tabled early in the session," he said.

The Nanavati Commission, which investigated the 2002 riots, submitted its second and final report to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on November 18 last year. This being the first Assembly session thereafter, the report is likely to be tabled. The commission's first report, submitted in 2008, had concluded that the burning of Sabarmati Express at Godhra was a pre-planned conspiracy and not an accident. It had also given a clean chit to the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers.

British victims' family slams verdict

The acquittal of six people in a case related to the killing of three British nationals of Indian origin during the 2002 Gujarat riots was on Friday described as a "failure of justice" by the victims' family.

Citing lack of evidence, a special trial court in India on Friday acquitted all the six accused of killing three British nationals near Prantij town in Sabarkantha district of west Indian state of Gujarat in 2002. "The tragedy, something that the family has to live with on daily basis, is that the mob responsible for killing their loved ones are still loose on the streets. "The family will not rest until the Indian government fulfils its legal duty and responsibility of bringing the real culprits to justice," said Suresh Grover, spokesperson for the Dawood Family Justice Campaign set up here in the wake of the tragedy.

On February 28, 2002, as riots engulfed Gujarat a day after the Godhra train-burning incident, Imran Dawood and his UK-based uncles Saeed Dawood, Shakeel Dawood and Mohammad Aswat were attacked by a mob on the highway near Prantij. Saeed, Shakeel, Mohammad Aswat and their car driver Yusuf Piraghar, a local, were burnt alive while Imran managed to save himself with the help of police.

The deaths of the British nationals had prompted the UK government to take a policy decision not to have active engagement with Gujarat government. Britain resumed the engagement only in October 2012.

The British family hit out at India for failing to "hold rule of law" and taking long duration to deliver legal verdicts. "How can a country continue to claim that it promotes rule of law when it can take 13 years to deliver a verdict in a case that should have been completed within 12 months, and, as importantly, fail to deliver justice for victims?" a statement said.

It also criticised Gujarat's police authority for their inability to "identify, interview and support crucial witnesses" in the wake of the incident. "Unfortunately and sadly the verdict does not come as a surprise. It is an established fact that the Gujarat police failed to investigate the murders properly and thoroughly. "This negligence was especially noticeable in two key aspects of the investigation: the police's unwillingness to identify, interview and support crucial witnesses and their apparent inability to collect forensic evidence," read the statement.