'“My five-year-old daughter is running a high temperature,” says Shakieela Nizamuddin, “but the police stopped my husband [from taking her to the doctor]. He got scared and came back. We are not allowed to go outside our colony, not even to the hospital.” Shakieela, 30, lives in the Citizen Nagar relief colony in Ahmedabad city. She scrapes out a living from making kites at home. She and her husband, a daily wage worker, are seeing their hopes dwindle along with their income under the lockdown. “The clinic is closed,” she told me on a video call.
'A special SIT judge hearing the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case, in which former BJP minister Maya Kodnani is an accused, has been transferred as principal district judge of Valsad by an order of the Gujarat High Court. According to a notification issued by the Gujarat High Court on Friday, principal judge, city civil court, Ahmedabad, M.K. Dave has been transferred as principal judge of Valsad district. He will be replaced by S.K. Baxi, who served as principal district judge, Bhavnagar, before being transferred here...'
'Despite Narendra Modi’s reminder to his Twitter followers that “peace and harmony is central to our ethos”, the international press put the blame for the Delhi violence on the Prime Minister’s hardline policies, especially the rollout of the Citizenship Amendment Act. Most publications also noted the culpability of BJP leader Kapil Mishra, whose inflammatory remarks are said to have majorly contributed to the violence that has led to over 40 deaths.
'Citing spiritual and moral guidance, the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to 15 convicts in the post-Godhra Sardarpura riot case in Gujarat wherein 33 members of a particular community were burnt alive. A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde and comprising Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant has put them in two groups -- six of them will remain in Indore and the rest will go to Jabalpur. They will however not be allowed to enter Gujarat...'
'A video of BJP workers purportedly raising provocative slogans alluding to the 2002 Gujarat riots while taking out a rally in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act, has gone viral, prompting police to register a case. The rally was taken out at nearby Kuttiyadi on Monday, police said. In the video some BJP workers, carrying party flags are seen allegedly raising provocative slogans...'
'Amid the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests, Karnataka Minister for Kannada and Culture C.T. Ravi said that a ‘Godhra-like’ situation can arise if the majority “loses patience”. This follows former minister and Congress leader from Mangaluru, U.T. Khader's statement that Karnataka will burn if the Citizenship (Amendment) Act is implemented...'
'The February 2002 Sabarmati train fire, which killed 59 kar sevaks and triggered large-scale riots, was part of a "conspiracy" hatched by Congress's elected members from Godhra, according to a reference book on political history of Gujarat published by a state board... The book, titled ''Gujarat Ni Rajkiya Gatha'' (Political Saga of Gujarat) and published in December 2018, is edited by Bhavnaben Dave, a former BJP MP and current vice-chairperson of the board... "To destabilise a stable government, a conspiracy was hatched on February 27, 2002.
'On 5 July, a Supreme Court division bench led by the judge Arun Mishra overturned a 2011 judgment of the Gujarat high court. The high court had acquitted 12 men accused of murdering Haren Pandya, a former home minister of Gujarat, in 2003. In the acquittal, the court condemned the Central Bureau of Investigation’s probe into the case—the agency had linked Pandya’s murder to the killing of a Gujarat-based leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and said that the murders were an international conspiracy supposedly led by a Muslim cleric to spread terror among Hindus.
'In a nation known for its collective amnesia, it is important to restate names, characters and situations. Forgetting these can jeopardise free thought and the very idea of justice. One such name is Babubhai Patel alias Babu Bajrangi. He is a member of the Gujarat unit of the Bajrang Dal and his notoriety lies in the fact that he confessed (during a sting operation) to have actively participated in the killing of men, women and children in Naroda Patiya – an Ahmedabad neighbourhood witness to the worst rioting in February 2002, leading to the deaths of 97 people.
