Communal Riots-2012.pdf - Indian Social Institute

change the fact that the carnage occurred under his watch. Nor do sound-bytes substitute for justice thatstill eludes many riot victims and their families.Modi's statement is too disingenuous to carry muchcredibility. Everybody knows the wheels of justice grind slowly, when it comes to establishing culpabilityfor communal riots in India. At best a few among the small fry are punished; top politicians are never heldto account. In any case India has stopped hanging people in public since colonial times. For Modi to usesuch colourful rhetoric is sound and fury signifying nothing - tantamount to emotional manipulation of thesort politicians are fond of. State polls are coming up, and Modi's opponents will yet again find electoralfirepower in the secularism issue. Plus, there's talk of him seeking a bigger national footprint with an eyeto 2014. His remarks are being viewed as an attempted image makeover, a bid to shed the Hindutvahawk tag and court Muslims. The problem isn't with the attempt but with its appearing more gimmicky andexpedient than sincere. True, Modi's got good press as a development-oriented CM. But he should haveworked as persuasively and tirelessly to counter serious allegations about his government's conduct in2002 and stonewalling tactics since. Nor is it too late for him to show he means it about delivering justiceand succour. (Times of India 29/7/12)Gujarat may repair riot-hit shrines (7)NEW DELHI: After taking a constitutional high ground that compensation to religious structures damagedduring 2002 communal riots was opposed to the tenets of secular governance, the Gujarat governmenton Monday told the Supreme Court that it was contemplating framing a scheme for repair of suchstructures harmed during breakdown of law and order. Gujarat's additional advocate general TusharMehta faced a tough situation — both legally and politically — before a bench of Justices K SRadhakrishnan and Dipak Misra as senior advocate Harish Salve argued for NGO Islamic ReliefCommittee of Gujarat that the high court's order directing assessment of damages to the religiousstructures due to riots for payment of compensation was a "healing touch" approach. Salve said when theHC said the state did not discharge its constitutional obligations during the riots adequately; it was not anindictment but a finding on constitutional tort warranting compensation for repair. "The order was inFebruary and now we are in end of July yet nothing has been done. The exercise by the HC was to makesome one who had waited for nine years to feel that some forum was hearing his grievance. Let theexercise go on. This is only a healing touch," he said. Salve's response came when Mehta sought a stayon the proceedings before the District Judges, as directed by the HC, for assessing of the damages.Mehta said, "Earlier we had accepted the liability of repairing the damaged religious structures before theNational Human Rights Commission. But later, we find that it was against the ethos of seculargovernance."….. (Times of India 31/7/12)Assam for CBI probe in communal violence (7)Guwahati: Hinting that some "external forces" were behind the communal clashes in three districts, theAssam government Tuesday said it has decided for a CBI probe in the violence, which left 73 peopledead and over four lakh people displaced. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told media persons here that therewere external and internal forces behind the violence between Bodo tribals and Muslim settlers. Theclashes started in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts of the Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) andlater spread to contiguous Dhubri district. "Some external forces have always been active in Assam tocreate some sort of disturbances in the state," said Gogoi and added that the government has alreadystarted the process to hand over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The chief ministersaid that the situation has improved in the violence-affected areas but he also expressed concern overthe recent fresh incidents of violence in Kokrajhar district. "We are worried over the recent incidents ofviolence. I have instructed the chief secretary and other officials to deal with the situation strictly," saidGogoi. "We have to deal with the situation strictly. Police have already arrested 170 people for indulgingin the violence. I have also instructed the police in BTAD to seize all the illegal arms and ammunition, iffound in possession with civilians and other anti-social elements," he said. Police have also beeninstructed to go for preventive arrests if required, he added. Gogoi said that the deaths in the violencehave gone up to 73, including 15 killed in relief camps and four in police firing. Of the 15 killed in reliefcamp, seven were children, he said. The chief minister said that 65 companies of para-military forceswere deployed in the affected districts at present and that a total of 1.17 lakh people have alreadyreturned to their houses from the relief camps. Gogoi also said that 95 police pickets have already beenset up in all the sensitive areas of the districts and that the remaining pickets will be set up soon. (IANS)(New Kerala 7/8/12)Assam violence: Death toll climbs to 65, locals block NH 31 (7)Guwahati: Four more persons fell victim to the fresh wave of violence in lower Assam districts, triggering