Gujarat: Continuing Violence

Gujarat: Continuing Violence

Relief and Rehabilitation

Following the events of February 27-March 02, 2002, the Government of Gujarat was grossly and willfully negligent in providing necessary political support, security, relief, resettlement and rehabilitation measures to the victims. Initially, the compensation announced for the primarily Muslim victims was half of the amount declared for the Hindu victims of the Godhra train tragedy. Chief Minister Modi described those who died in S-6 as victims of “terrorist activities.” In response to the Sabrarmati Express fire, the Modi Government announced a compensation package of 200,000 rupees for each victim.

Modi described those who died in the anti-Muslim carnage following Godhra as victims of “communal violence.” The compensation package for these victims was 100,000 rupees. The inequity in the allocated compensatory amounts, based on religious affiliation for all intents and purposes, violated "provisions of the Constitution contained in Articles 14 and 15, dealing respectively with equality before the law and equal protection of the laws within the territory of India, and the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth."[45] The compensation packages were later lowered to a single sum of 100,000 rupees for all victims after intense public protests dissenting the decisions of the Government of Gujarat.

However, most victims and survivors have had enormous difficulty in claiming even this amount of compensation, with some being paid as little as 500 to a few thousand rupees.[46] Relief camps were assembled, marshaled mostly by citizens groups, and not by state relief agencies. At a public function on September 09, 2002, Chief Minister Narendra Modi stated: "Do we go and run relief camps? Should we open child producing centers?… those who are multiplying population at a rapid rate will need to learn a lesson."[47]

The Gujarat Government, acting under the orders of Narendra Modi, ordered that all relief camps be shut down as of October 30, 2002, leaving the 200,000 internally displaced vulnerable and without resettlement and rehabilitation. Relief camps set up to house the thousands of displaced Muslims were run largely by Muslim and other citizens groups. The camps received little support or aid from the state, and were constantly harassed and threatened with closure even as the victims residing there had been displaced and had nowhere to go. Moreover, it was reported that: "the few camps in Ahmedabad which are hosting [displaced] Hindus are visited more frequently by government authorities and receive more regular rations."[48]

After the closure of the camps, many survivors fled Gujarat to stay with family in neighboring states rather than return to their villages to face further violence, a process that has led to progressive ghettoization of the Muslim community in cities like Ahmedabad and Baroda. Others, only after agreeing to abandon their cases, returned fearfully to broken homes and often to neighbors who had committed or supported atrocities against them. Economic boycotts of Muslim shops and employees continue to the present day, compounding the trauma and constraining the right to life and livelihood.

In addition to the emotional and psychological trauma of the loss of life and the violations of family, dignity, and body, everyday struggles also continue to strain daily life. Muslim youth are discriminated against and denied access to good schools, and teenage boys in particular are vulnerable to police-led search operations and POTA detentions. Testimonies of displacement of Muslims are accompanied by stories of Hindu businesses or individuals who take over spaces and jobs vacated by their former neighbors.

Freedom of mobility, especially for women of the Muslim community, has been greatly reduced as the failures of justice have produced a sense of impunity, sanctioning further acts of violence. Hindus who befriend or support Muslims are targeted and ostracized. False cases have been registered against them, and Hindu women married to Muslim men have been singled out for brutal torture and death.[49]