We Have No Orders to Save You - Human Rights Watch

closed. She explained that she and her seven family members had refused to return to Naroda Patia: “I haven’t
gone home, and I won’t go back. Why would I go back? We barely survived leaving. We barely saved ourselves
on the way out, why would we go back? I don’t have a death wish.” 207 Those who have returned to their homes,
for a lack of other options or because they do not wish to abandon property that they own, continue to flock to
now-closed relief camps at the first sign of trouble, further undermining the government’s assertion that
“normalcy” has returned to Gujarat. According to R. Bibi, a former resident of Naroda Patia and also a lingering
resident at Shah-e-Alam camp, “There used to be thousands of people in this camp. Now they’ve gone to their
homes. For some they were constructed by committee people [a Muslim charity], and some had to go back to
[Naroda] Patia out of necessity. But whenever something happens they come running back here. They put the
locks on and come running back here. There is still danger for us there. I don’t feel like going back there.” 208
According to a report in the Times of India, by the end of March 2003 the residents of Naroda Gam and
Chamanpura, Ahmedabad had fled to relief camps six times since returning to their residences. The exodus
triggering events were the attack on Akshardham in September 2002, the Jagannath Rath Yatra 209 in July 2002,
the Muslim holiday of Eid and the attack on VHP leader Jaideep Patel in December 2002, the India-Pakistan
cricket match and the assassination of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya in March 2003. The VHP
call for a statewide bandh (shut-down) following the assassination further added to Muslim insecurities. 210
Ongoing impunity for attacks against Muslims (see Chapter IV) and periodic episodes of violence have also made
it impossible for many families to return to their homes where their assailants roam freely in their neighborhoods.
IX. LACK OF GOVERNMENT COMPENSATION FOR VICTIMS
Following the violence in February-March 2002, the government of Gujarat passed a series of orders designed to
compensate victims for injury, loss of life, property, and livelihood. In many cases the compensation amounts
were lower than precedents set by the state following the earthquake in Gujarat in January 2001. Most people
interviewed by Human Rights Watch received negligible amounts to compensate for the destruction of their
homes, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand rupees. Unable to prove that their loved ones were dead,
and not simply “missing,” many found it difficult to get compensated. No one interviewed by Human Rights
Watch was compensated for injury or loss of employment or livelihood.
The victims of the communal violence in Gujarat in February-March 2002 have been denied the right to a remedy
and reparation, a right enshrined in various international human rights instruments. 211 The Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, widely viewed as customary international law, provides that everyone has “the right to an
effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted” by the
207 Human Rights Watch interview with Savera Bibi, Ahmedabad, January 2, 2003.
208 Human Rights Watch interview with R. Bibi, Ahmedabad, January 2, 2003.
209 An annual Hindu ritual in which a chariot is drawn for 14 kilometers through the streets of Ahmedabad.
210 Harit Mehta, “Riot victims flee sensitive areas after Pandya killing,” Times of India, March 29, 2003.
211 See, e.g., the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 8; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
article 2; and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, article 14
(containing an express provision for an “enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full
rehabilitation as possible.”) Other non-binding international instruments also provide guidance on reparations. Principle 29
(2) of the U.N. Guiding Principles on International Displacement stipulates that internally displaced persons should be
provided with compensation or other just reparation for property lost during the course of displacement. Further guidance on
compensation can be found in the “Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of
Violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law,” drafted by M. Cherif Bassiouni, the U.N. special
rapporteur on the right to restitution, compensation, and rehabilitation for victims of gross violations of human rights and
fundamental freedoms. It is available online at
http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/TestFrame/42bd1bd544910ae3802568a20060e21f?Opendocument (retrieved
February 19, 2003).
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 41 JULY 2003, Vol. 15, No. 3 (C)