http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/gujarat-riots-2002-godhra-sudden-spontaneous-backlash-frantic-police-warnings-ignored/1/262413.html
Exclusive: Headlines Today probe reveals
Gujarat riots were not spontaneous and sudden
Ashish Khetan
| Headlines Today | Gandhinagar, April
15, 2013 | UPDATED 09:49 IST
(Culpable: Home Minister Modi, then commissioner of police PC Pande, present commissioner of Police, Shivanand Jha jurisdictionally in charge of Sola Civil Hospital area). Why did they allow Mobs to assemble at 3 a.m. on 28.2.2002, why did they give Police Escort to Giriraj Kishore who made inflammatory speeches, why did they allow Rowdy and Crowded Funeral processions that took FOUR hours to reach the Crematorium? While Naroda Patiya was being Attacked and the Massacre at Gulberg being allowed!!
Good Governance??!!
In the past
10 years, the Gujarat government and senior BJP leaders have often said that
the riots that broke out in the state in February 2012 were an 'instantaneous
reaction' to the carnage at Godhra. The chief minister himself in an interview
on March 1, 2002 had said, "What we are witnessing in Gujarat at this time
is a chain of action and reaction. We want that there neither be action nor
reaction."
But now
Headlines Today has uncovered the police control room messages and the state
intelligence bureau reports which show that the police had received a constant
stream of inputs from its field officers about VHP leaders making provocative
speeches, about crowds being mobilised and warnings about the possibility of
major riots breaking out. Despite the flurry of ground reports and advance
warnings, no curfew was imposed in Ahmedabad till noon the next day. The BJP
government supported the VHP called bandhs that, as events turned out, proved
to be the pretext under which violent mobs were mobilized. VHP leaders were not
warned or put under preventive detention.
But the most
intriguing aspect of these messages is that while they have been produced
before the court as annexures, they don't find any mention in the 541 page
closure report filed by the SIT. No attempt has been made by the SIT to
reconstruct the sequence of events as they unfolded immediately after the news
of Sabarmati train incident broke. The SIT did not assess the adequacy or
appropriateness of the state's response in a chronological fashion as the law
and order collapsed in large parts of the state.
Perhaps, that's the reason that the
facts that emerge from these messages are hard to reconcile with the
conclusions drawn by the SIT.
There were
two centralised police control rooms in Ahmedabad in 2002 - Ahmedabad Police
Control Room situated at Shahibaug in the heart of the city. Naroda and
Gulberg Society, where around 150 people were burnt to death on the 28th of
February lay within a radius of 6 KMs from this Police Control Room 9Gulber was
2 to 3 kms from the control room while Naroda was roughly six kilometers).
The second
one -- the State Police Control Room -- located at Police Bhawan in
Gandhinagar.
The
Ahmedabad Police Control Room received messages of the build up taking place in
Ahmedabad City. The State Control Room got messages from different districts in
the state.
In February
2012 the SIT submitted before an Ahmedabad court, in a sealed cover, only the
Ahmedabad City PCR messages... a copy of these are now with Headlines Today.
The State Control Room messages are still missing.
There was
also a third control room...this was at the State Intelligence Bureau
Headquarters situated inside Police Bhawan, Gandhinagar...the same
building where the State DGP's office is located. The SIB Control Room was also
flooded with field intelligence reports filed by its intelligence units located
across the State including Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. These SIB reports too
have been submitted before the Court by the SIT. A copy of these too is now in
the possession of Headlines Today.
By the
afternoon of February 27, the Gujarat home department was being bombarded with
messages from cops on the ground about mobilisation of VHP and Bajrang Dal
cadre.
Rightwing
activists across the state were holding public meetings, making provocative
speeches and inciting mobs. All this is documented in hundreds of wireless
messages sent by policemen to the state intelligence bureau. But the State
failed to take any effective steps to prevent the imminent massacres. Within a
few hours after the Godhra tragedy, the three senior-most office bearers of Gujarat's
VHP unit -Jaideep Patel, Dilep Trivedi and Kaushik Patel-- issued a statement
declaring a state wide bandh and containing remarks that were designed to
incite the mobs.
A field
level officer faxed this statement to SIB headquarters at 20:38 hours on the 27
Feb 2002.
February 27,
2002
Time: 8:38
pm
State
Intelligence Bureau Message No: Page No. 188 (Annexure III, File XVIII)
VHP general secreatary Dilip Trivedi & VHP joint secretaries Jaideep Patel & Kaushik Mehta issue a statement.
VHP general secreatary Dilip Trivedi & VHP joint secretaries Jaideep Patel & Kaushik Mehta issue a statement.
VHP declares
Gujarat bandh to protest killing of kar sevaks.
Statement
says Muslims pre-planned Godhra attack.
Innocent
ladies were molested and compartments were set on fire and Ramsevaks were burnt
alive.
Through out
the day on 27th February the SIB control room received messages of provocative
sloganeering and mobilisation by the VHP.
February 27,
2002
Time: Not
Known
State
Intelligence Bureau Message No: Page No. 345, Order No. 24 (Annexure III File
XIX)
Sender: D.O,
Ahmedabad
Recipient:
Intelligence Office, Virangam (Ahmedabad)
75 VHP &
Bajrang Dal members gathered at Virangam Town Chali & Golwada area.
Situation in
the area very tense.
The PCR
messages warned about the tension that was spreading from the moment sabarmati
express (the same train that was attacked by Muslim mobs at Godhra and later
after detaching the burnt bogies made its way to Ahmedabad) arrived at
Ahmedabad station.
February 27,
2002
Time: 6:10
pm
State
Intelligence Bureau Message: No. 531 Page No. 19 (Annexure III, File XVIII
(D-160)
Sabarmati
Express arrived at Ahmedabad station from Godhra at 4:30 pm.
Karsevaks
armed with rods & sticks, shouting slogans 'khoon ka badla khoon'.
At 10:12 pm,
Police Inspector of CID, Intelligence in Bhavnagar sent a fax to Inspector
General, Gujarat State Intelligence Bureau in Gandhi Nagar saying that Sadhu
Samaj president Gopal Nand and local VHP leaders exhorted crowds at Junagadh to
retaliate. The message said that the VHP leaders delivered hate speeches and
called on all Hindus to unite.
February 27, 2002
Time: 10:12
pm
State
Intelligence Bureau Fax Message: 311/02 Page No.: D-1/ HA/Jaher Sabha/Junagadh
Sender: CID,
Bhavnagar
Recipient:
IG, Gujarat & Intelligence Bureau, Gandhi Nagar
Sadhu Samaj
president Gopal Nand gave provocative speech at Junagadh Kadva Chowk between
7:30 pm-9 pm.
Gopal Nand
questioned lack of response from Hindus even 12 hours after burning of train.
Gopal Nand
questioned Muslim patriotism to India and incited mobs to attack them.
By the
afternoon of the 27th, the riots had begun.
February 27,
2002
Time 17:45
State
Intelligence Bureau Fax Message No 273 File XIX Annexure III
Sender: B M
Mohit Anand Centre
Sabarmati
Express reached Anand Railway Station at 1500 hrs
Karsevaks
from the train stabbed 4 Muslims present at the station.
One victim
named Abdul Rashid aged 65 years, resident of Anand, died.
Remaining
were hospitalised at Anand government hospital.
Reports of
violent attacks by karsevaks came from across the state. A VHP mob was reported
as swelling at Vadagam village in Modasa that was to become another epicentre
of violence. There were desperate SOS messages seeking reinforcements. Mobs
were on rampage through the night, setting ablaze houses and vehicles.
February 27,
2002
Time: 11:59
pm
State
Intelligence Bureau Fax Message: Com/HM/550/ Out No. 398
Sender: ACP,
Gandhinagar Region
Recipient:
IG, Gujarat & Intelligence Bureau, Gandhi Nagar
50 kar
sevaks on special bus from Ahmedabad reached Modasa, Vadagam village at 6:30
pm.
500-strong
mob received kar sevaks.
Karsevaks
told mobs about attack on Sabarmati Express.
Crowds
swelled to thousands by 9:30 pm.
Police
presence insufficient to maintain order.
10 shops
owned by Muslims & several vehicles set ablaze by mobs.
Despite
these warnings there was no clampdown by the Gujarat government on the
mobilisation being carried out by the VHP leadership and neither were VHP and
Bajrang Dal members taken under preventive detention.
The Speical
Investigation Team in its report accepted that the Modi government supported
the bandh called by the VHP.
Page 134 of
SIT closure report: "Shri Vijay Badheka, Under Secretary to Home
Department has stated before the SIT that both Gujarat bandh on 28.02.02 and
Bharat bandh on 01.03.02 were supported by the BJP."
The bandh
allowed the VHP cadre a free run even as the SIB kept sending signals of
impending riots and sought preventive action.
February 28,
2002
Time:
9am-10am
State
Intelligence Bureau Message No: 73/02 Page 365 (Annexure III File XXI (D-166)
Sender: ACP
(Intelligence) Surat
VHP, BJP leaders gave provocative speeches at Sardar Chowk, Vapi Town.
VHP, BJP leaders gave provocative speeches at Sardar Chowk, Vapi Town.
VHP's Dinesh
Behri, Bajrang Dal's Acharya Brahmbatt, BJP's Jawahar Desai & RSS member
Vinod Chowdhary present Speakers exhorted crowds to take revenge for Godhra.
When the
Ahmedabad police commissioner P.C. Pande and State DGP K. Chakravarty were
questioned by the SIT, they were not confronted with these specific SIB
reports. P.C. Pande was not asked why curfew was not imposed in Ahmedabad city
on the 27th afternoon itself, particularly in the face of such specific
intelligence inputs.
Pande told
SIT on page 7 of his statement recorded on 24.03.2010: "The circumstances
did not exist on the 27.02.02 or even on 28.02.02 to warrant the imposition of
curfew and any hasty decision would have led to panic in the city. Even
otherwise with limited forces available imposition of curfew becomes a serious
problem and large scale breach becomes common."
Pande and
Chakravarty were also not asked why VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders were not put
under preventive arrest even as they were threatening violence.
But the SIT
has not explained what these specific measures were. General and vague claims
made by Gujarat State Officials that all possible efforts were made to control
the riots have been accepted by the SIT.
The State
Intelligence Bureau repeatedly pressed the panic button, sending SOS' to the
home department about the possibility of riots. Bodies of kar sevaks in public
display and funeral processions by mobs…proved to be the trigger. But records
show the VHP and its cadres succeeded in stoking mass hysteria.
30 minutes
past midnight on the 28th of February 2002, the state intelligence bureau
received a fax giving a specific warning about possibility of riots with bodies
being brought to Ahmedabad. Then VHP state unit president Jaideep Patel was
already on his way escorting the 54 bodies from Godhra to Ahmedabad.
February 28,
2002
Time: 12:30
am
State
Intelligence Bureau Fax No. 525
Bodies will
be brought to Kalupur Railway station, Ahmedabad.
Dead bodies
will be carried in funeral processions VHP gave a bandh call.
High
possibility of riots in Ahmedabad. Take preventive action.
February 28,
2002.
Time: Not
Known
State
Intelligence Bureau report to Home Secretary and all Police Commissioner, all
SPs
VHP has
given a call for "Gujarat Bandh".
Appropriate vigilance be exercised.
The motorcade carrying bodies finally reached Sola Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad at 3:34 AM. By then there was a already a mob made up of VHP and RSS members outside Sola Hospital.
Appropriate vigilance be exercised.
The motorcade carrying bodies finally reached Sola Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad at 3:34 AM. By then there was a already a mob made up of VHP and RSS members outside Sola Hospital.
The PCR Van
positioned at Sola Civil Hospital sent a message to City Police Control Room
situated at Shaibaug. The distance between Hospital and Control Room was 11
kilometres.
February 28,
2002
Time: 4:00
am
Page No.
5790 (Annexure IV, File XIV)
Mob of 3000 RSS members gathered at Sola Hospital.
Mob of 3000 RSS members gathered at Sola Hospital.
February 28,
2002
Time: 7:14
am
PCR wireless
message (Sola Hospital)
Page No.
5796 (Annexure IV, File XIV)
Mob
assembled at Sola Hospital.
The crowds
were getting restless. Soon violence sparked off.
February 28,
2002
Time: 7:17
am
PCR wireless
message (Sola Hospital)
Page No.
5797 (Annexure IV, File XIV)
Mob of 500
people holding up traffic.
At 8:10
there is a message from the Control Room saying that 3 SRP Companies have been
sent to Sola Hospital for extra bandobast.
February 28, 2002
Time: 11:55
am
PCR wireless
message: Page No 5894(Annexure IV, File XIV)
Mob set
vehicle on fire, arson on highway.
February 28,
2002
Time: 11.55
am
PCR message
State
Intelligence Bureau: Page No.6162 (Annexure IV File XV)
Riots have
started at Sola Hospital & near High Court where bodies were brought.
February 28,
2002
Time: Not
known
PCR message (Sola Hospital)
PCR message (Sola Hospital)
State
Intelligence Bureau: Page No.?6172
Sola
Hospital staff surrounded by 500-strong mob Please provide security at hospital
urgently.
These revelations
show how mobs were allowed to congregate at the hospital to take out funeral
processions. Though violence had erupted, curfew was still not clamped.
Pande
claimed in his statement before the SIT that he visited the Hospital at 10 am
and found everything to be normal.
"I went
to Sola Civil Hosptal around 10:00 and found that doctors were under pressure
to complete the documentation wheras relatives were in a hurry to take the
bodies. However, I didn't find anything alarming and as such returned around
11:00 am."
Pande also
claimed there were no funeral processions, a claim accepted by the SIT. But the
PCR messages show that there were not only processions but also riots at the
hospital, nailing Pande's lies.
February 28,
2002
Time: 11:58
am
PCR message
(Sola Hospital)
State
Intelligence Bureau: Page No. 5907 & 5925(Annexure IV File XIV)
Funeral
procession of 10 bodies taken out from Ramol Jantanagar to Hatkeshwar
crematorium 6,000 people accompanied procession.
As funeral
processions wound through the city, mobs ran amok at Gulbarg Society, Naroda
Patiya and Naroda Gaam in Ahmedabad.
February 28,
2002
Time: Not
known
PCR message
(Khedbrahma, Sabarkantha) Com/538
State
Intelligence Bureau: Page No. 258 (Annexure III File XIX)
Funeral
procession allowed at Khedbrahma town in Sabarkantha district
Situation
tense, 2 Muslims stabbed at Khedbrahma
February 28,
2002
Time: Not
known
PCR message
(Khedbrahma, Sabarkantha)
State
Intelligence Bureau: Page No. 262 (Annexure III File XIX)
150 Bajrang
Dal members on way to Khedbrahma.
February 28,
2002
Time: 3:32
pm
PCR message
(Khedbrahma, Sabarkantha)
State Intelligence Bureau: Page No. 254 (Annexure III file XIX) Com/574
Funeral procession organised for Godhra train victim Babubhai Patel in Sabarkantha.
State Intelligence Bureau: Page No. 254 (Annexure III file XIX) Com/574
Funeral procession organised for Godhra train victim Babubhai Patel in Sabarkantha.
Special
Investigation Team in its closure report on pages 59 to 64 had concluded there
were no funeral processions and gave a clean-chit to the Gujarat government on
this count.
PCR messages detailing incidence of
violence in Ahmedabad clearly warned about a brewing unrest. Rioting was
reported from Naroda and Meghani Nagar where Gulberg Society is located. The
PCR messages of violence in Ahmedabad are contained in Annexure IV File XIV.
Here are some samples of the several wireless messages sent by policemen on the
ground.
Page No.
5798, 5803, 5804
Date:
February 28, 2002
Time: 12:30
am
PCR Message:
Factory burnt at Ambikanagar on February 27
Area: Odhav
FIR No.80/02
Page No,:
5746
Date:
February 28, 2002
Time: 1:10
am
PCR Message:
Between 2:30-3:00 pm on Feb 27, mob stoned bus, vandalized shop
Area:
Bapunagar
FIR No.:
64/02
Page No.:
5768
Date:
February 28, 2002
Time: 2:38
am
PCR Message:
Mob torched buses & rickshaws, damaged public property on Feb 27 at 5:15 pm
Area: Odhav
FIR
No.:78/02
Page No.:
341, Order No. 534
Date:
February 27, 2002
Time: 8:25pm
State
Intelligence Bureau Message: Man succumbs to stab injuries on February 27 at
8:25 pm
Area:
Meghani Nagar
FIR No.:
65/02
Page No.:
341, Order No. 534
Date:
February 27, 2002
Time: Not
Known
State
Intelligence Bureau Message: Man succumbs to injuries on Feb 27 at 7:45 pm at
Saralaben Hospital.
Area:
Meghani Nagar
FIR No.:
65/02
Page No.:
347, Order No. 8535
Date:
February 27, 2002
Time: 8:30
pm
State
Intelligence Bureau Message: Man critically injured after attack at Ahmedabad
railway station at 5 pm.
Area:
Ahmedabad
FIR No: Not
Known
Page No:
348, Order 541
Date:
February 27, 2002
Time: 9:30pm
State
Intelligence Bureau Message: Juhapura resident attacked at V.F Hospital.
Area:
Ahmedabad
FIR No: 116
Page No.:
5807 & 5808
Date:
February 28, 2002
Time: 4:28
am
PCR Message:
One critically injured near Kathwada Road, Naroda, on February 27 at 7:30 pm.
Area: Naroda
FIR No.:
97/02
Page No.:
5805 & 5806
Date:
February 28, 2002
Time: 4:20
am
State
Intelligence Bureau Message: One critically injured near Law Garden on February
27 at 8:15 pm.
Area:
Ellisbridge
FIR No:
116/02
Page No.:
5801
Date:
February 28, 2002
Time: 3:50
am
State
Intelligence Bureau Message: One critically injured in mob attack near
Mahalaxmi Crossroad, Paldi on Feb 27 at 8:30 pm.
Area:
Ellisbridge
FIR No.:
114/02
Inspite of
all of this, the then Ahmedabad Police Commissioner told the SIT that he didn't
find the "circumstances on the 27th and 28th fit for curfew."
PCR and SIB
reports show that there were regular inputs of VHP and Bajrang Dal led mobs
swelling at Naroda and Gulberg Society.
Pande
admitted before the SIT that at both these places curfew was declared only
after 12:50 pm ...by then the mob had already swelled to between 10 and 15
thousand people in number. It is no wonder that the curfew that was finally
imposed remained only on paper - it had no effect on the ground.
Hundred and
fifty men, women and children were burnt and hacked to death at Naroda and
Gulberg society in the four hours between 2 and 6 PM on February 28.
Police
Headquarters at Shahibaug was only 2 to 3 kilometers from Gulberg Society and
around 6 kilometers from Naroda Patiya.
Pande
admitted before the SIT that through out the day he didn't move out of his
office and visited Naroda Patiya and Gulberg only late in the evening...by that
time the massacre was over and done with.
SIB messages
show that there were three alerts about the impending massacre at Gulberg.
Date:
28.02.02
Time: 12:15
Sender:
Police Inspector CJ Bharwad To: State SIB Control Room
Muslims
reside in Gulberg Society.
Mob is
surrounding the place.
Strict watch should be kept there.
Strict watch should be kept there.
Date: 28.02.02
Time: 14:50
Sender:
Police Inspector CJ Bharwad To: State SIB Control Room
Mob of 3000
rioters has surrounded Gulberg Society, take immediate action.
Date:
28.02.02
Time: 17:00
Sender:
Police Inspector CJ Bharwad To: State SIB Control Room
Mob attacked
the society from all sides Ehsan Jaffri and women and children burnt alive.
Houses are
ablaze. Mob is looting from homes.
In his
defence Pande said in his statement: "On 28.2.2002 requests were received
from different police stations seeking additional force and SRP and whatever
forces were available with me the same were dispatched. However, I found that
no feedback had been received by any one of them. This led me to presumption
that additional forces reached in time and they were able to control the
situation."
SIT accepted
Pande's defence and gave him and the Gujarat Administration a clean chit.
The state
government told the SIT that the 2002 riots were a spontaneous reaction to the
Godhra tragedy, but documentary evidence tells a different story.
Eleven years
after the after the horrific incidents as Narendra Modi aspires for the prime
minister's chair, Headlines Today has tried to throw fresh light on why his
ascension remains so contentious.
