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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Gulberg Society case: Gujarat highlights why the Bill against communal violence is needed

Gulberg Society case: Gujarat highlights why the Bill against communal violence is needed

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published Published on Apr 12, 2012   modified Modified on Apr 12, 2012
-The Economic Times
 
The special court's verdict in the communal killings in Ode and the Special Investigation Team's (SIT) closure of investigation in the Gulberg Society massacre - after finding no evidence to prosecute CM Narendra Modi and top political leaders, bureaucrats and police officers - highlight the laboriousness of delivering some measure of justice to the victims of the carnage in Gujarat in 2002. 

The SIT's report is by no means a clean chit to Mr Modi. The legal process would, in all likelihood, continue in the Gulberg Society case. Besides, the SIT simply failed to find sufficient evidence, something that would happen if evidence has been destroyed. 

Some months ago, the state government itself admitted that it had destroyed what seemed like critical records relating to the riots. And all the murky twists and turns that have been witnessed in the investigations actually reinforce the notion that the state administration is out to subvert justice. But that is precisely what also makes bringing the law of the land to bear on the perpetrators of the 2002 violence in Gujarat more important. 

Overall, such has been the abysmal track record of delivering justice in riot cases that even partial convictions, that too after a decade, in a couple of cases relating to the post-Godhra killings stand out. 

Given this, the passage of the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill assumes critical importance in a country often ravaged by such riots. This is necessary because even the delayed justice in cases like Ode is only partial - the fact that only a few Muslim families have returned to the area where the slaughter was carried out makes talk of 'moving on' and peace having returned sound absurd. 

The Bill should be seen as one of the more significant ones in India's post-Independence history. For, while the end-result should be ending the culture of immunity fostered by the political class in communal riot cases, coming down heavily on instigating or carrying out such riots, the rehabilitation of victims must aim at their renewing their lives in full measure. Meanwhile, justice will continue to be a work in slow progress.

The Economic Times, 12 April, 2012, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/gulberg-society-case-not-quite-a-clean-chit-to-modi/articleshow/12630633.cms


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