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2002 Gujarat violence refers to a series of riots and other incidents of mob violence that occurred in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002. According to a Central Government report released in 2005, 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed with an estimated 223 deemed missing, in the riots, which were driven by tensions between Hindus and Muslims in the state. The human rights groups estimate the death toll to be more than 2000 with about 140,000 people turning refugees. [1] Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... For the rock band Riot see Riot (the band) Riots in Newark, New Jersey Riots occur when crowds of people have gathered and are committing crimes or acts of violence. ... Violence is the causing of, or acting with the intent to cause, injury to people or animals. ... Gujarat (ગુજરાત in Gujarati) is the most industrialized state in India after Maharashtra and is located in western India, bordered by Pakistan to the northwest and Rajasthan to the north. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, the predominant religious, philosophical and cultural system of India (Bharat). ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) is an adherent of Islam. ...

The riots were triggered on February 27, 2002 by a fire on a passenger train, the Sabarmati Express, passing through the town of Godhra. The train was carrying Hindu activists called Kar Sevaks returning from a disputed religious site in Ayodhya. An estimated 59 passengers were killed, many of whom were women and children. February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... There are various types of trains designed for particular purposes, see rail transport operations. ... Sabarmati Express is name given to a train route/schedule that connects the city of Ahmedabad to cities in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Godhra is a town in Gujarat, India. ... A Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, the predominant religious, philosophical and cultural system of India (Bharat). ... The term Kar Sevak is used to refer to people who offer their services for free (volunteer) to a religious cause. ... Ayodhya (अयोध्या) is an ancient city of India, the old capital of Awadh, in the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh. ...

The Riots

In the massacres that followed the Godhra incident, it had been reported that over 1000 people were killed. Points of view differed on the number, with the figure 1000 being seen by some as an exaggeration, and by others as an understatement. Points of view differ with respect to how these deaths occurred: some refer to these as riots while others refer to these as an anti-muslim pogrom. A pogrom (from Russian: погром, meaning wreaking of havoc) is a massive violent attack on a particular ethnic or religious group with simultaneous destruction of their environment (homes, businesses, religious centers). ...

On February 28, in one incident in Ahmedabad, at Naroda Patia, a crowd of people set fire to the mainly muslim locality, altogether killing at least 65 people. The community religious place was burnt using LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders. In the following days, hundreds of young people with swords, daggers, axes, and iron rods walked around the area, shouting angry slogans. February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Ahmedabad (અમદાવાદ in Gujarati) or Ahmadābād is the largest city in Gujarat and the sixth largest city in India with a population of almost 5 million. ...

According to Human Rights Watch, who visited Naroda Patia three weeks later, homes in the area were completely burnt for the affected. Several witnesses claimed that the police failed to protect residents. Human Rights Watch is an international NGO based in New York City, USA, that works with human rights issues. ...

In another incident on the same day, the former muslim MP of the city, Ehsan Jafri was burnt alive along with 37 others by a mob that attacked their housing society. This incident further highlighted the inabity of the state administration in controlling the mobs. [2]

Over two months, mobs ruled Gujarat. With inter-state traffic perilized, mobs killed, burned and looted en masse. Statewide, the police took no major action to stop the mobs. At the peak of the violence, mobs paraded noisily right outside the Gujarat police commmisioner's offices.

These killings were investigated in an unofficial inquiry comprising of Justice (retd)G T Nanavati and Justice (retd) K G shah. The inquiry included gathering and analysis of 2094 oral and written testimonies, both individual and collective, from survivors and independent human rights groups, women's groups, NGOs and academics. Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an organization that is not part of a government and was not founded by states. ...

The role of the state and central government in the riots

Various human rights groups as well as major Indian newspapers accused the Gujarat state government, led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi for supporting the riots. On 3rd March, 2002, Modi stated : "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction." He further added that Gujarat's 50 million people had shown "remarkable restraint under grave provocation", implying that the violence could have been worse. [3] A Chief Minister is the elected Head of Government of a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British overseas territory that has attained self-government. ... Narendra Damodardas Modi (born September 17, 1950, Gujarat, India) is the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat in India since October 7, 2001. ...

The Gujarati media neverthless claimed that Modi's words were blown "out of context" by the English media. Gujarat (ગુજરાત in Gujarati) is the most industrialized state in India after Maharashtra and is located in western India, bordered by Pakistan to the northwest and Rajasthan to the north. ...

As a result of Narendra Modi's alleged role in abetting the riots, the US government revoked his visa under Section 212 (a)(2)(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act which makes any foreign government official who was responsible or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religions freedom, ineligible for the visa.([4]) This decision was protested by the Indian government, but in response the US government pointed out that their decision was based on the report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India. [5] ...

On part of the government's effort to control the riots:

• Deployed the army, after 72 hours.
• Made preventive arrests of over 33,000 people.
• Fired over 12,000 rounds of bullets
• Fired over 15,000 rounds of tear gas shells

However, the President of India at that time, K. R. Narayanan, later blamed the ruling BJP government for supporting the pogroms. In an interview to the Malayalam magazine Manava Samskriti on the eve of the third anniversary of the Gujarat riots he said : “If the army had been given the powers to suppress the violence, but the [BJP] state government did not do it; the Centre also did not do it. It was a conspiracy between the state and the central government that was responsible for the Gujarat violence.” ([6]) Narayanan's views were consistent with reports by Rahul Bedi that the soldiers were held back by the government in the initial days of the pogram which gave the rioters a free hand. [7] Executive President Prime Minister The Union Ministries Legislative Parliament Rajya Sabha Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Lok Sabha Speaker of the House Judicial Supreme Court Chief Justice of the Supreme Court High Courts District Courts Constitution Fundamental Rights and Directive principles Regions States and territories Elections General Elections State Assembly... Kocheril Raman Narayanan, usually known just as K. R. Narayanan (b. ... BJP could mean one of Indias largest political parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party British Journal of Photography British Journal of Psychiatry British Journal of Pharmocology This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

The Best Bakery Case

The Best Bakery case, one of the most famous in recent history, is still ongoing. The incident involves the gruesome killing of 14 people when the Best Bakery, in the Hanuman Tekri area of Vadodara, was attacked by a large mob.[8] The Best Bakery case is the name used to refer to a case involving an incident which occurred on March 1, 2002, at a bakery (called Best Bakery) in Vadodara, India during the 2002 Gujarat violence in which 14 people were murdered, many of them burned to death. ...

A Sessions court in Vadodara had acquitted 21 accused in the case as witnesses turned hostile. The Gujarat High Court also upheld the decision. Later, a key witness Zahira Sheikh asked for retrial of the accused outside Gujarat and said that she changed her statement in the court due to threat to her life by the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Madhu Srivastav. The Supreme Court of India ordered a retrial, out of the state of Gujarat and described Gujarat's administrators as "modern day neros", saying that they "were looking elsewhere when Best Bakery and innocent women and children were burning, and were probably deliberating how the perpetrators of the crime can be saved and protected". [9]
The Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian Peoples Party), created in 1980, is today one of the largest national political parties in India. ...

Zaheera, however changed her stance and said that the decision by the Sessions court was correct. This time she accused social activist Teesta Setalvad of getting her signature on the petition by telling her that the petition filed was for her property. A "sting" operation carried by the magazine Tehelka seemed to reveal that she had accepted bribes from the BJP MLA and close associate of Narendra Modi, Madhu Srivastava. [10] Teesta Setalvad is an anti Hindu Indian social worker. ... BJP could mean one of Indias largest political parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party British Journal of Photography British Journal of Psychiatry British Journal of Pharmocology This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Narendra Damodardas Modi (born September 17, 1950, Gujarat, India) is the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat in India since October 7, 2001. ...

The other witnesses in the case have mantained their stand and some of identified the accused in their depostions.

The cause of the train fire in Godhra

The reasons for the train fire and the riots are fiercely disputed. Godhra is a town in Gujarat, India. ...

• One hypothesis states that the attackers were Muslim vendors at the Godhra station who had an altercation with the Kar Sevaks earlier, and that the riots were an expected retaliation to the train fire.

• A railway ministry inquiry led by Retired Supreme Court judge Umesh Chandra Banerjee concluded that the fire was accidental. "There has been a preponderance of evidence that the fire in coach number S6 originated in the coach itself without any external input," he said, "The possibility of an inflammable liquid having been used is completely ruled out as there was first a smell of burning, followed by then (sic) smoke and flames thereafter.". The report was attacked by the BJP and other social service organizations as politically motivated.[11]). The report conclusions also do not address many unanswered questions like the presence of armed Muslim youths around the train.

A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) is an adherent of Islam. ... Godhra is a town in Gujarat, India. ... The term Kar Sevak is used to refer to people who offer their services for free (volunteer) to a religious cause. ...

External references

• A report on the altercation between the Muslim tea vendor and the kar sevaks in magazine Outlook
• Human Rights Watch (HRW) report 'We have no orders to save you'
• The HRW Report on Gujarat: Another Assassination Commentary on the HRW report
• After the carnage: the predatory 'intelligentsia' Commentary on the "predatory 'intelligentsia" by Rajeev Srinivasa
• Crime Against Humanity - An Inquiry into the Carnage in Gujarat published by Citizens for Justice and Peace
• Gujarat page on site of Siddharth Varadarajan, editor of Penguin book, Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy (2002)

Compilations of newspaper articles

• Indian Express-Full Coverage
• The Gujarat Riots Homepage
• Efforts to bring justice to the victims of the violence

Newspaper articles

• In India, a Child's Life Is Cheap Indeed, The New York Times, March 7, 2002
• After Deadly Firestorm, India Officials Ask Why, The New York Times, March 6, 2002
• India Death Toll Passes 300 in 4th Day of Religious Riots, The New York Times, March 3, 2002
• More Than 200 Die in 3 Days of Riots in Western India, The New York Times, March 2, 2002
• Hindu Rioters Kill 60 Muslims in India, The New York Times, March 1, 2002
• Firebombing of Train Carrying Hindu Activists Kills 57, The New York Times, February 28, 2002
• Early news reports on the violence
• The sufferings of victims