The same crime

The Sabarmati Express carnage and its barbaric aftermath shocked the world. While all crimes were reported, those perpetrated against women were brushed under the carpet. Now with survivors beginning to reveal all the atrocities they’ve undergone, the horror is slowly beginning to unfold.

Women survivors from the relief camps in six districts of the state have given testimony of all they endured, post-Godhra. The worst forms of sexual violence, including rape, gangrape, stripping, molestation, have been reported. The mobs did not even spare minors or pregnant women. Many of the women were set on fire later. Story after story tells the same chilling tale of devastation wreaked on these women.

Down the years, where have we changed? How have we changed? What’s the difference between then and now? Nothing. The communities may have changed, the people haven’t. Then it was dictator Hitler who let his SS have a free run. It is Narendra Modi now who allowed mobs to run riot.

There’s something about a mob that brings out the worst in man. In a mob, there’s a sense of supreme power. One by one, they come together, becoming this huge mass that can’t be put down. All it wants to do is ride roughshod over others — women are the prime target and rape the terror tactic.

A six-member fact-finding team which recently visited Gujarat was shocked by the state of affairs. ‘‘We won’t be able to lead the same lives anymore,’’ one of them said after listening to many of the survivors. Just one FIR has been filed so far. The police, say survivors, are unwilling to file their reports.

The commission has recommended that a special task force with people from outside be set up to file these FIRs. But it remains to be seen what action is taken after the FIRs are filed. More likely than not, nothing will come of them for the government depends too heavily on medical reports. But in these cases, the medical examinations cannot reveal the whole truth — these bruised and battered women have been on the run for days, if not weeks, after they were attacked.

The chief minister continues to mouth platitudes. ‘‘My first priority is to wipe the tears of the riot-hit,’’ he said at the BJP Executive in Goa. A couple of days ago, he repeated the same. Meanwhile, the women’s tears continue to flow.