People's Democracy

Modi’s Prosecution must Begin without Delay: SAHMAT

A number of leading artists, theatre workers, intellectuals, writers and journalists, associated with the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, issued the following statement on April 26, 2011.  

WE call on the Supreme Court appointed Special Investigating Team (SIT) to take immediate note of the consequences arising from the affidavit filed by the senior Gujarat cadre police officer, Sanjeev Bhatt, pointing directly towards the culpability of chief minister Narendra Modi in the state-wide pogrom against Muslims in 2002.

Several of the revelations made by Bhatt suggest that the SIT has not been true to its mandate to investigate the riots impartially and effectively. We are disturbed by the allegation that the SIT tried to tutor Bhatt prior to his formal deposition and that it has tried to suppress his damaging revelations about Modi’s explicit instructions that the police should allow the free expression of “anger” by rioting mobs.

We have always been aware of Modi’s criminal culpability in the riots that swept through Gujarat for over a month after the Godhra train arson of February 2002. Bhatt’s affidavit provides a sound legal foundation to the case against the chief minister and establishes a sound basis to begin the process of prosecution against him.

We call on the SIT to show the necessary sensitivity and commitment to the urgency of justice for the victims of the murderous Gujarat riots, engineered by those who were entrusted with the job of governing the state.