By TwoCircles.Net Staff Correspondent,
Ahmedabad : Several victims of the anti-Muslim carnage in Naroda Gam and Naroda Patia – the worst sites of the statewide anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat in 2002 – have strongly opposed the appointment of public prosecutors(PP) to facilitate the trial of the accused in the two cases.
While a total of 98 Muslims, including pregnant woman Kausar bano whose abdomen was slit open and the foetus was roasted on the tip of a sword by the mob, were killed in Naroda Patia, 11 Muslims were killed in Naroda Gam.
The victims are opposing the appointments because of the PPs allegedly being linked with the Hindu right groups and being sympathetic to the accused in the two cases.
The accused involved include former minister Maya Kodnani and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaydeep Patel.
In a strongly worded letter to the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team(SIT) headed by former CBI director R K Raghavan, riot victims Imtiaz Qureshi and Nanhyu Miyan Rasool Miyan Malek said that the appointment of Nigam Shukla as public prosecutor would not serve the purpose of justice as he had earlier represented the state government before the Nanavati Commission probing the causes of Godhra and post-Godhra riot cases.
The state government headed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi is alleged to have been directly involved in the anti-Muslim killings that left about 2000 Muslims dead, several thousand others injured and properties worth several thousand crores of rupees damaged or destroyed.
“How can a lawyer, who has earlier defended the state government in anti-Muslim carnage, do justice in favour of the victims?’’, the two victims asked in the letter.
Shukla was appointed PP by the State Legal Cell on the recommendations of the SIT. In fact, the appointment of PPs with questionable background has put the integrity of the SIT officials in doubt.
The Supreme Court in an order recently had directed SIT to suggest the names of PPs to the state government in consultation with riot victims.
The two victims said that while sorting out the names of PPs, the SIT never consulted them. They said that the SIT should have tried to find out the background of the PPs before suggesting their names to the state government.
In another letter sent to Mr. Raghavan, a total of 35 victims led by Nazir Pathan opposed the appointment of Akhilesh Desai as PP in the Naroda Patia case.
Desai is allegedly involved in a Rs. 36 crore fraud of the Ahmedabad Peoples’ Cooperative Bank which collapsed recently.
Apart from that, the victims said that pro-Hindutva leanings of Desai were well-known among the advocate community and hence, it was not logical to appoint him as PP under the circumstances prevailing in the state.
On June 8, the state government had announced the appointment of PPs in eight of the nine most heinous riot cases that were re-investigated by the SIT on Supreme Court orders.
While senior advocate J M Panchal has been appointed as PP in the Sabarmati Express case in which 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya were killed, Ajay Choksi was appointed PP in the Prantij foreign nationals case in which four British Muslims were killed, and R K Shah was appointed PP in the Gulberg society case in which 69 persons including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri were killed. Besides, advocate Suresh Shah was appointed PP in Sardarpura case, Puranchand Agrawal as PP in Dipada Darwaza case and Chinubhai Desai in Ode murder case.
These PPs will be facilitating the trial of the accused in the special fast track courts set up by the Gujarat High Court on apex court orders.
The apex court had ordered investigation and trial in the cases on a petition filed by the National Human Rights Commission and Mumbai-based NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace(CJP) headed by Teesta Setalvad after a gap of seven years.