We Have No Orders to Save You - Human Rights Watch

While many of those arrested for post-Godhra attacks on Muslims are out on bail, Additional Director General of
Police A.K. Bhargav admitted that POTA had been invoked against the Godhra arrestees in part to forestall the
possibility of their obtaining bail. 149 On April 17, 2003 a special POTA court rejected the bail applications of
fifty-six Godhra arrestees. 150 By sharp contrast, as of the beginning of March 2003, all but three of the sixty-eight
accused in the Naroda Patia case were out on bail. In keeping with Indian criminal procedure 151 the police had
attached the properties of fifty-one of the fugitives in the Godhra case, but had failed to do the same for fugitives
in the Naroda Patia case. 152 Critics in the state, including human rights lawyers, add that POTA—whose
evidentiary requirements are lower than those of ordinary criminal legislation—is being invoked primarily against
those against whom there is little evidence. 153
Police continue to dismiss the post-Godhra violence as spontaneous and unorganized; a chilling echo of Chief
Minister Modi’s now famous justification for the anti-Muslim pogrom that “Every action has an equal and
opposite reaction.” 154 When questioned about the government’s decision not to apply POTA in the Naroda Patia
and Gulbarg Society cases, the police responded that there was no evidence of a conspiracy in those cases. 155 This
despite the fact that evidence clearly exists, and has been collected in meticulous detail by human rights groups
throughout the state in the form of thousands of affidavits and reports. The evidence is simply not being entered
into the police record. Responding to charges made by Human Rights Watch that POTA had been selectively
applied against Muslims, while ordinary criminal charges were filed against Hindus, a government official told
the Associated Press that investigating agencies “had found no Hindus involved in anti-state activities that
threatened that country’s sovereignty.” 156
In addition to the Godhra massacre, other cases involving sangh parivar victims, such as the attack on VHP
Gujarat state General Secretary Jaideep Patel (see footnote 46), and the assassination of former Gujarat home
minister and VHP functionary Haren Pandya are being pursued much more aggressively than those involving
Muslim victims.
On the morning on March 26, 2003, former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya was assassinated. He was shot
at close range with five bullets. 157 Three eyewitnesses who testified before the Citizens’ Tribunal testified that
they saw Pandya on February 28, 2002 opposite the V.S. Hospital in Ahmedabad setting fire to a store called
Apna Bazaar Medical and shouting, “Let us burn these Muslims.” Pandya, who was leading the mob in the area,
also reportedly had prevented the fire brigade from putting out the fire. An FIR had been lodged against him. 158
In August 2002 Pandya resigned from the ministry in Gujarat. A source close to Chief Minister Modi told
rediff.com, an online news service, that Pandya was asked to either resign or apologize for appearing before the
Citizens’ Tribunal and implicating Modi in the violence in the state. He was believed to have told the tribunal
lawyers will also fight for fair compensation for all the victims, and against what they term the “illegal arrests” of peace
activists and eyewitnesses. “Top lawyers to defend Godhra case accused,” Times of India, March 13, 2003.
149 Under POTA the accused cannot obtain bail unless the court records a finding that there is no prima facie case against
them. “In Gujarat, only Godhra case is fit enough for POTA,” Indian Express, April 3, 2003.
150 “POTA court rejects bail applications of 56 accused,” Press Trust of India, April 17, 2003.
151 See India’s Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, sections 82, 83.
152 “89 killed in massacre, police let the probe die,” Indian Express, March 1, 2003.
153 “In Gujarat, only Godhra case is fit enough for POTA,” Indian Express, April 3, 2003. See footnote 143 for more on
POTA.
154 Scott Baldauf, “Indian government struggles to maintain order; Continuing riots test Hindu-led coalition’s credibility,”
Christian Science Monitor, March 4, 2002.
155 “Same terror, different laws in Gujarat,” Indian Express, February 22, 2003.
156 Ashok Sharma, “International rights groups demand federal probe into killing of Muslims in India’s Gujarat state,”
Associated Press, March 8, 2003.
157 Vikram Vakil, “Former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya shot dead,” rediff.com, March 26, 2003.
158 Concerned Citizens Tribunal, Crime Against Humanity, vol. I, p. 44.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 33 JULY 2003, Vol. 15, No. 3 (C)