Once again, police blame victims

The chargesheet filed by the Crime Branch says the armed crowds that had gathered in Naroda had turned violent after two incidents: Discovery of a ‘‘mutilated body of a Hindu’’; and killing of a person by a ‘‘Muslim driver’’ who drove his Tata 407 mini-truck into the crowd.

It that ‘‘anguished by these incidents’’ a mob led by Naresh Chara set ablaze houses, shops, and vehicles of Muslims. His name, however, does not figure in the FIR (No 100/2002) registered at Naroda Police Station.

Besides Chara, the chargesheet names 48 accused. But charges have been made out only against 44 of them, with 23 shown as arrested and 21 as absconding. The other five accused — in police remand till June 6— are Bajrang Dal member Babu Bajrangi, VHP member P.J. Rajput, BJP member Kishan Korani, and Suresh Chara and Prakash Chara. Charges against them will be made out subsequently, police said.

Bajrangi, Korani, and Rajput have also been named as accused in the Naroda Gam case, in which eight were burnt alive. Among those named as absconders in the chargesheet are Ashok Sindhi, Harsh Rohera, and Raju Chobal. Sindhi was linked to the massacre after his mobile phone was found at the crime scene by a survivor. Rohera and Chobal figure in the FIR filed by Naroda police.

The charges made out against the accused are more or less the same as in the Gulbarg case: Spreading communal disharmony, defying ban orders, murder, rape, dacoity with murder, arson, rioting, and criminal conspiracy.

The chargesheet is a complicated document, running into 152 pages. Attached to the FIR made out by the Police Station are 720 statements from witnesses and 600 panchnamas.

Also clubbed with it are 27 other FIRs, summarised from 148 complaints lodged by survivors. Then there are reports from forensic experts on evidence found at the scene.

Among the statements is one by 12-year-old Anisha Mansuri, who said she saw Shabana Sahed, 15, being raped and then burnt alive by unidentified persons.

Another from Janatbibi and Reshma Nadibhai Saiyeed said they saw a pregnant woman, Kausarbanu, being raped and then cut open, the foetus pulled out on a sword tip. They said Kauserbanu was then burnt alive.

It was on the basis of this statement that AMTS driver Ratilal Rathod alias Bhavani Singh had been arrested.

However, the chargesheet does not include complaints that name BJP city unit president Maya Kodnani, VHP state vice-president Dr Jaideep Patel, and Police Inspector K.K. Maisurwala, then posted at Naroda Police Station.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) P.P. Pandey said,‘‘Our work is not find out the why of an incident. It is for the trial to decide. We just present the facts on the basis of our investigations.’’ He said investigations in cases relating to BJP and VHP leaders was in progress and arrests would be made as and when evidence was accumulated.