By TCN News,
New York: Even as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on Australian tour, American Justice Center (AJC), an organization established to bring human rights abusers to justice, has claimed it has lodged a criminal complaint in Australia against Modi for his role in “aiding, abetting and inciting organized attack against the minorities of Gujarat before and during the horrific 2002 genocide.”
The complaint is being brought under the aegis of AJC, by Asif Vahora, a survivor of the 2002 massacres, in which over 2,000 people were killed and over 150,000 displaced. The complaint refers to the destruction of “20,000 Muslim homes and businesses and 360 places of worship.”
Narendra Modi (TCN file photo)
The complaint has been lodged under Australia’s ‘The Criminal Code Act 1995’ which provides Australian courts the jurisdiction over cases involving crimes against humanity worldwide. Justifying the prosecution of Modi in Australian Courts, the complaint states that Modi’s actions during February-March 2002 violate sections 268.3, 4, 5, 8 & 9 of Australia’s Criminal Code Act of 1995.
The complaint, lodged with Robert Bromwich SC, Director Commonwealth Public Prosecutions, Australia, charges Modi with “crimes against humanity and genocide resulting in the killing of more than 2,000 Muslims and displacement of several hundred thousand.”
Recently, AJC spearheaded an Alien Tort case against PM Modi during his visit to the United States in September. Following the AJC complaint, a US federal court issued a summons against the visiting PM. The case is currently under review by the US Federal Court. As in the Tort case brought against Modi in the US, AJC is providing legal support and advice to the survivors in their effort to hold Modi accountable for the loss of lives and property that was caused by his complicity in the Gujarat massacres.
“Under Australia’s criminal code, mere presence of the accused foreigner in Australia is a sufficient basis for jurisdiction over acts of genocide and crimes against humanity committed abroad,” said Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to AJC. “Thus it adopts a mode of jurisdiction equivalent to universal jurisdiction,” Pannun added.
Gujarat 2002 was one of the worst episodes of sectarian violence in independent India and was marked with horrific crimes against humanity, including the rape of several hundred women. Many of the victims were subsequently burned alive.
Although the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Supreme Court investigating the mass violence did not prosecute Modi, an amicus curiae appointed by the Supreme Court had recommended Modi’s prosecution. A case filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of slain Parliamentarian Ehsan Jafri, is pending against him in the Gujarat High Court.