By TCN Special Correspondent,
Ahmedabad: Human rights activists and family members of Sohrabuddin Sheikh killed in a fake encounter in Gujarat say that justice is not possible in Gujarat. They were reacting at the order of the Gujarat High Court granting bail to former Gujarat minister Amit Shah on Friday.
Shah was accused by federal investigative agency-CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation)-as chief mastermind in the Sohrabuddin case and was charged of abduction, murder and running an extortion racket in collaboration with senior police officials who worked under him.
Sohrabuddin Sheikh was gunned down in an extra-judicial action in November 2005 by anti terrorist squad of the Gujarat police headed by Shah.
Kausar Bi, Sohrabuddin’s wife, was also subsequently killed by the trigger happy cops. A total of 15 policemen, including five IPS officials, have been arrested in the case since 2007 and are in jail.
Cops have been denied bail by various courts owing to heinous nature of their crime.
But the Gujarat High Court on Friday granted bail to Shah al beit with certain conditions.
Shah was a close aide of chief minister Narendra Modi till he was arrested on July 25 this year by CBI.
Asked for his comments, Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin said: “Friday’s order has made it evidently clear that justice is not possible in Gujarat courts”.
However, in the same breath he said: “But I honour the decision of the court”.
Rubabuddin said he was surprised over bail granted to Shah despite strong evidences against him.
Regarding his apprehension that “justice is not possible in Gujarat courts”, he pointed out how two jailed IPS officials in the case-Dinesh MN and NK Amin-had been granted bail by earlier Ahmedabad sessions court. However, the bail was later on cancelled by the next higher court.
But Rubabuddin vowed to challenge the bail order in the Supreme Court and seek justice for the murderers of his brother and sister-in-law.
He feared that Shah, an influential politician, would influence the witnesses now.
When Shah was in jail, former deputy prime minister L K Advani, national BJP president Nitin Gadkari and senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley had visited his family members at his Naranpura residence in Ahmedabad. Shah belongs to cash-rich Jain community known for their political proximity with BJP and funding the party.
Noted human rights activist J S Bandukwala also echoed the views of Rubabuddin.
“It is difficult to get justice on this issue in Gujarat”, feels Bandukwala, a former professor of physics at Vadodara’s M S University. He himself has been a victim of anti-Muslim violence of 2002. He and his daughter were attacked by an armed mob but they took shelter in the toilet of their Hindu neighbours and were saved.
“Getting justice in Gujarat is very difficult because entire state machinery-police, judiciary and state administration-are substantially communalised”, he commented.
“As a result, after nine years of the anti-Muslim carnage, accused were punished only in two cases-Best Bakery case of Vadodara and Bilqis Bano case of Randhikpur-because trial was conducted by a court outside Gujarat”, he pointed out.
He wants that the nine most heinous riot cases of 2002 being probed by SIT be shifted out of Gujarat to ensure justice.
“Our chances of getting justice in other cases look dim because the impression in Gujarat is that Narendra Modi is a future prime minister”, he says.
“As a Muslim I just want justice in what happened in 2002”, he argues. But he opines that Modi adept in the art of media propaganda may try to present the whole case as bogus after court granting bail to Shah.
“As far as Muslims of India are concerned, we will never forget the role Modi played in massacre of 2002”, he asserts.
“We may forgive but we will never forget what happened in 2002”, he declares.
Catholic human rights activist Fr. Cedric Prakash said: “I am surprised by the bail given to Shah”.
Senior advocate and activist Mukul Sinha said: “I am not satisfied by court ordering bail for the former minister. It has shaken the trust of the people in Gujarat’s judiciary”.