K E R A L A M O N I T O R . C O M

India: Protect Gujarat Activists Now

(New York, Sept. 5, 2003) - The Indian government must protect three
activists harassed and intimidated for their efforts to protect
witnesses to last year's massacres in Gujarat, Human Rights Watch
wrote in a letter to the Indian government today.

"The Indian government must demonstrate that it's on the side of
justice, not those who organized this massacre," said Brad Adams,
executive director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. "These
three activists are trying to stand up to a state government that has
done little to bring about accountability for thousands of victims and
now they themselves are targets."

Teesta Setalvad, Rais Khan Azeezkhan Pathan and Suhel Tirmizi have
received anonymous telephone calls threatening their lives if they
continue their work. On August 29, Pathan was threatened by a group of
Hindu nationalists as he escorted witnesses to an official inquiry
into the massacres.

The communal violence in Gujarat began on February 27, 2002, over
allegations that a Muslim mob in the town of Godhra had attacked and
set fire to two carriages of a train carrying Hindu activists. Fifty-
eight people were killed.

Over the next three days, a retaliatory killing spree by Hindus left
hundreds dead and tens of thousands homeless in Gujarat. A Human
Rights Watch report on the violence (We Have No Orders to Save You)
concluded that Gujarat state officials were directly involved in the
killings and engaged in a massive cover-up.

A follow-up report by Human Rights Watch (Compounding Injustice: The
Government's Failure to Redress Massacres in Gujarat), published in
July 2003, concluded that the massacre's ringleaders were still at
large. Human Rights Watch has asked the Indian federal government to
take over investigations in cases where the state government has
hampered litigation.

Although the Indian government initially boasted of thousands of
arrests following the attacks, most of those arrested have since been
acquitted, released on bail with no further action taken, or simply
let go. Even when cases have reached trial, Muslim victims faced
biased prosecutors and judges, harassment and intimidation. In one
case, 14 people were set on fire and killed in the Best Bakery in
Vadodara, Gujarat. A Gujarat state court acquitted 21 people accused
of the killings after witnesses withdrew statements they had given to
the police identifying the attackers.

A prime witness in that case, Zahira Sheikh, told India's National
Human Rights Commission she was forced to change her testimony as a
result of threats against her during the trial. Setalvad, Pathan, and
Tirmizi have provided protection and legal assistance to Sheikh and
her family members, including moving them to a secure location in
Mumbai.

On August 20, the three human rights defenders requested police
protection from Gujarat's chief secretary and director general of
police and the police commissioner of Ahmedabad. There has been no
response to date. The defenders also filed an application for
protection before the Supreme Court of India on September 1.

In the letter, addressed to Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Human
Rights Watch called on the Indian government to:

- Immediately provide proper and adequate protection to Teesta
Setalvad, Rais Khan Azeezkhan Pathan, and Suhel Tirmizi;

- Ensure a retrial of the Best Bakery case outside Gujarat and
provide adequate protection for witnesses in the case;

- Direct federal authorities to take over cases of serious,
large-scale human rights violations where the state government has
hampered investigations, including the Godhra, Naroda Patia, and
Gulbarg Society massacre cases.

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