Finally, The First Sign Of Justice

Tehelka’s investigation of the Gujarat carnage played a large role in ensuring the arrest of a high-profile minister. RANA AYYUB tracks the case

Duly charged Maya Kodnani is the first Gujarat minister to be arrested Photo: TRUPTI

AAJ SHAAYAD hum insaaf ki umeed kar sakte hain” (Perhaps today we can hope for justice) mused Nanumiyan Malek, one of the key witnesses in the Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon riot cases. Last week, the Gujarat High Court rejected the anticipatory bail applications of State Minister Maya Kodnani and VHP leader Jaideep Patel. Malek’s testimony in this regard was crucial.

This was the first arrest of a state minister for involvement in the post- Godhra riots of 2002, one of the worst communal riots in India’s history. The Supreme Court appointed a Special Investigative Team (SIT) in March 2008 to re-investigate nine of the worst post- Godhra riots, including the Gulbarg Society massacre which saw the killing of ex-MP Ehsaan Jaafri along with 40 others, as well as the infamous Naroda Patiya massacre which claimed 106 lives. The SIT approached the High Court to strike down the anticipatory bail granted by the Sessions Court to Kodnani and Patel.

Significantly, the SIT team asked for the tapes of the landmark 2007 TEHELKA investigation which exposed the involvement of the state machinery. These tapes also helped indict not just the two figures named above but other leaders as well as policemen for playing a role in the riots. This TEHELKA exposé brought to the fore not just Kodnani and Patel but also State Home Minister Gordhan Zadaphia and Chief Minister Narendra Modi, among others. In one of the tapes an accused had spoken at length of how Maya Kodnani moved around all day in an open jeep wearing a saffron headband, raising slogans and instigating the mob to kill Muslims.

Richard: Mayaben was moving around all day in an open jeep…

TEHELKA: On the day of the Patiya massacre…

Richard: [She was saying] Jai Shri Ram, Jai Shri Ram... wearing a saffron headband... She kept raising slogans..She said, carry on with your work, I’m here [to protect you].

In another taped confession, Babu Bajrangi who was arrested and later let off had said that he was in constant touch with Jaideep Patel and that he had spoken to him at least eleven times to update him about the carnage.

TEHELKA: You were in touch only with Jaideepbhai?

Bajrangi: Only Jaideep was talking to me from the VHP.

TEHELKA: The day Muslims were killed…

Bajrangi: I spoke to Jaideepbhai 11 or 12 times… aur humne tabiyat se kaata… Haldighati bana di thi [we killed with gusto, we turned the place into Haldighati]… And I am proud of it, if I get another chance, I will kill even more.

TEHELKA: Where was Jaideepbhai camping then?

Bajrangi: Jaideepbhai was sitting at Dhanwantri, which is Pravinbhai’s dispensary, he was there... in Bapunagar… There he was and I didn’t even tell him that we were going to do this… In Naroda and Naroda Patiya, we didn’t spare a single Muslim shop, we set everything on fire, we set them on fire and killed them...

Bloodbath At least 106 Muslims were killed in Naroda Patiya. Kodnani provoked the massacre Photo: PARAS SHAH

THE SIT had also earlier sought the help of TEHELKA videos to seek the remand of Valsad Deputy Superintendent of Police KG Erda before the Magisterial Court for allegedly giving a free hand to rioters during the Gulbarg Society massacre. The team later arrested Erda and other VHP and local BJP leaders. The SIT, which submitted its report to the Supreme Court last month, was headed by RK Raghavan and included members such as CD Satpathy, former Director- General of the UP police, and three IPS officers from Gujarat, Sivanand Jha, Ashish Bhatia and Geeta Johri. When asked, SIT officials maintain that the videotaped confessions by the accused in the TEHELKA exposé helped them in questioning the right people and using them as a reference while going through the evidence. While issuing its verdict in the Kodnani case, the Gujarat High Court cited the order issued by the Supreme Court when forming the SIT, which observed, “Communal harmony is the hallmark of democracy. If in the name of religion people are killed, that is absolutely a slur and blot on any society governed by the rule of law. Religious fanatics really do not belong to any religion. They are no better than terrorists who kill innocent people for no rhyme or reason.”

Strong evidence against Kodnani came in the form of statements from almost 40 witnesses, including Nanumiya Malek who filed an affidavit before the apex court swearing that he had seen Maya Kodnani and Jaideep Patel leading the mob and instigating the rioters. The order also relied on Maya Kodnani’s phone records, which indicated that Kodnani was in the Naroda area for around 40 minutes on the morning of February 28, 2002, when riots were at their peak. Nanumiya, a resident of Naroda, was a BJP supporter before the riots. Life changed when he saw Kodnani, who he thought would save them, actually going around with a revolver in her hands, firing it and asking her followers to go after Muslims. Mukul Sinha, activist and an applicant in the case for the victims, hailed the judgement as a precedentsetting one and said that the order proved the riots were a pre-planned affair and not a spontaneous reaction to the Godhra killings. Sinha also felt that it was significant that the court took cognisance of affidavits which the defence had been dismissing as contradictory.

Kodnani has never been in the good books of Modi, which is perhaps why neither the CM nor his ministers commented on the judgement. When contacted for comment, Jai Narayan Vyas, spokesperson for the state government stated, “Why are you asking us to comment on the matter? Would TEHELKA have been bothered if the anticipatory bail in any other case had been cancelled? The SIT team’s word is not the word of law and by no means has this caused any embarrassment to us, as has been made out by everyone. It’s just a matter of law.”

The judgement has raised the hopes of thousands of riot victims who have waited for justice for seven years. The order has revived hope that the SIT will be able to interrogate Kodnani and Patel and reveal the link between the riots, state ministers and organisations such as the VHP.

WRITER’S EMAIL
rana@tehelka.com