(November 10, 2011) A Jesuit rights activist has welcomed a verdict by a Gujarat
court that sentenced 31 people to life in prison for their involvement in riots in
2002 that led to the death of 33 Muslims. Jesuit Priest Cedric Prakash said of the
case that “the wheels of truth and justice were slowly but surely moving in the right
direction.” He added that the conviction of such a large group involved in the communal
violence was “unprecedented.” Those convicted were also fined 50,000 rupees each.
A mob numbering about 1,500 set fire to the home of Ibrahim Sheikh of Sardarpura village,
where people had taken refuge from rioting. More than a 1,000 mostly Muslim villagers
were killed after 60 Hindu pilgrims died in a train attack that sparked widespread
anti-Muslim riots that lasted three days. Wajahat Habibullah, head of the National
Commission for Minorities, said the verdict would give “some kind of sense of justice”
to the Sardarpura victims, including 17 women and 11 children. “Though coming after
nine long years, the judgment will serve as an effective deterrent to those creating
hatred between communities,” said Fr Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of India. The convictions give a ray of hope to scores of additional cases
pending, said Harsh Dhobal, a rights activist and editor of Combat Law magazine.
Other cases now need to be expedited and the guilty, irrespective of the offices they
hold, should be convicted as soon as possible, said Fr Prakash. Only then, he added,
will surviving victims of one of the bloodiest chapters in India’s history be able
to take consolation that their struggle for justice has not been in vain.