B) BEST BAKERY, DABHOI ROAD
(March 1, 2002)

Background:
Hanuman Tekri is located on Dabhoi Road on the outskirts of Baroda. It is a lower middle class and poor neighbourhood. Most of the residents are Hindus with very few Muslim families. The basti consists of small houses and very narrow lanes. The houses mostly have tin roofs and very few were more than 1 storied. The Best Bakery was one of the few structures, which had more than one story.

Habibulla Abdul Rauf, the owner of the Bakery died of natural causes 10 days before the incident. He had started his bakery a few years ago, but the family was not staying in the same locality. They shifted to this area only 6 months before this incident. All other Muslims staying in the area had already left their houses before this incident. Only this family was staying because they were assured of safety by Jayantibhai Chaiwala, who is an influential person of the area. The Bakery was looted and burnt over March 1 & 2; 14 of the 24 members of the extended household were hacked/burnt to death while others escaped with serious injuries.

Testimony of Zahira Sheikh (daughter of Habibulla Abdul Rauf): In the morning of 1st March, Jayantibhai Chaiwala, who runs a chai shop, and is also a sanitation contractor, came over when all the tension began, and assured us that nothing would happen to us. He said, “Fikr mat karna, hum log hai.” [The plot on which the bakery stands was bought from Jayanti’s brother. It was an illegal transaction, since it was not registered land. The family migrated from Bombay about 20 yrs ago, and Zahira’s father first used to work in Iqbalbhai’s bakery, after which he branched out on his own. They used to stay at Navapura, and moved into the bakery only about 6 months ago.]

Nothing untoward happened during the day, but my uncle, fearing something, had told us all not to go out of the house. Around 8.30 at night, the mob came from Ganeshnagar side. They were shouting loudly - making sounds like adivasis. They had swords (talwar), bottles, stones, tins of petrol and kerosene, and were beating metal plates (thalis). There were about 200-300 men and boys. The two well-built persons were leading the mob. One of them was wearing yellow striped jersey and other was wearing khakhi shirt. They were looking very fierce. I don’t know their names but can recognise them if presented before me. The mob was talking to us in Hindi, not Gujarati.

When we saw all this, my uncle ran inside and locked the doors. We ran upstairs. Soon, Lal Mohammed’s timber shop in front was burnt down. We had heard some rumours earlier in the day that it was going to be burnt. So when it was actually burnt, we started getting really scared.

At first, they looted the bakery. The mob began pulling out all the things. Then they set fire to the room on the ground floor. The room was full of wood, which we had just got fresh stocks of. The room began to burn easily. We were all on the terrace, but my uncle (whose leg was hurt) went down to the first floor. My sister went with him to help him. But the mob came up, sprinkled petrol and set fire to the room. They got burnt in it. Firoze Pathan (a ‘chacha’) and his wife and children, who used to live next door, were also in their house and all of them are burnt.

The whole night we were on the terrace, and the mob kept pelting stones at us, abusing us and trying to make us come down. They kept trying to put a ladder from behind the house to reach us, but the walls were too hot. The whole night, the mob surrounded the house and kept abusing us (ma-behen ki gaali). The Hindu who lived at the back of our house also began to throw stones. Champak Policewala, the Hindu neighbour who had promised to help us when my father died, did nothing to help us.

At 8.30 pm itself, we rang up Pani Gate police station, when Lal Mohammed’s godown was burning. They said they would send someone. We kept ringing 3-4 times, and each time they said someone would come. After about an hour, the police van came to the area, but the mob ran behind Lal Mohammed’s godown and hid there. The police vehicle didn’t come into the lane, but turned off from the main road itself. The phone wire was cut off sometime at night.

In the morning, we kept pleading (“hum ne maafi maanga”). We pleaded for our lives, but the mob, who had been joined by more people in the morning, just laughed. Jayantibhai told us to come down after throwing down our weapons. We told him we have no weapons, and swore on Allah’s name. After as while, they put a ladder at the back and helped us come down. They snatched Rs 2000 from my brother, his watch. They kept beating us and pushing us, and brought us to the house of a Hindu (the family had been sent away or locked up - we didn’t see them). The mob kept yelling, “Maaro saalon ko”. They beat the boys more, and when the Hindu workers were trying to escape, they killed them with swords right there. They kept saying “rape these women”, and were trying to drag us (the women) into the jungle. By that time around 11 am on
2nd March the police arrived, and fire engines also arrived (paani ki gaadi) to put out the fire. Then the fire brigade brought my naani down from the terrace where she was still hiding on the terrace.

The police took down my statement right there. Then took me and my naani to Panigate police station. The injured were taken to hospital. When they saw I was injured too (gash on my head) they took me to the hospital. I had to give a statement there too. And once more in the police station. All 3 times, I was made to sign my statement, but the statement was not read out to me, nor did I read it. I stayed in the police station till noon on 3rd March. After which Iqbal Bhai (whom the police had contacted) came to pick us up.

Some of the people in the mob whom I could recognise were 1.Mr. Jayanti Chaiwala and his two sons Lala and one other son (name not known), 2. Mr. Mahesh (Jayanti’s relative), 3.Mr. Munna , 4. Mr. Sanjay Thakkar, 5. Mr. Santosh Thakkar, 6. Mr. Jagadish Rattiwala, 7. Mr. Dinesh Bakeriwala, 8. Mr. Shanabhai, 9. A person known as Painter


C) BAHAR COLONY

(March 15-17, 2002)
Events:
Bahar Colony on Ajwa Road is a middle-class Muslim colony. There has been no previous history of communal disturbances, even in 1992. This time the tension started since the March 15, 2002 when a Jhoppad patti was put on fire. On the morning of March 17 lots of people started gathering and tried to set fire to the laaris at the Sardar Estate Char Rasta.. And then two Muslim factories in Sardar Estate, both mainly employing Hindu employees, were set on fire. From 10 am onwards police was called. Police dismissed these calls as rumours. Finally the police arrived at 1 pm just as a group of men were returning after namaaz. On seeing the police mobile, the women approached the vehicle to try and talk to the policemen and express their insecurity of the last three days. The police fired into the gathering. Two young men were
injured in the police firing, one died later.

Role/Experiences of Women:
The women of the minority community were most upset and angry at the police’s inability to manage the mob. They wanted to request the police
to place a point in their colony. The police refused to listen to them and in fact did laathi charge on them to drive them into their homes. Among others an elderly woman Ameena Memon was badly hit in the laathi charge. A police complaint was filed subsequently. To-date there is no action.


D) WADI TAI WADA
(March 15, 2002)
Events:
According to the testimonies which follow, at 10.30 pm, around 15-20 policemen, all in plain clothes and with helmets arrived in the Tai Wada area. They were led by DCP Kanani. They came into the basti after receiving a tip off that stone throwing was going on. But in fact nothing like that was happening. The stones were coming from Navapura and instead of going there, they came to Wadi Tai Wadi. According to Ibrahim, the Police Commissioner was at the Swaminarayan Mandir because there were rumours that the temple would be destroyed that night by Muslims. Shamshuddin Nausanwala heard the Commissioner telling the police force to round up Muslims. 15 vehicles were brought here for combing, instead of being deployed where the disturbance was actually going on at Rang Mahal where a Masjid was burnt and Muslim homes were burnt. 14 women were hit that night including old women. They broke down doors of homes. They took 25 men in the combing operations. First they
beat them up, right there on the road and then took them away. The beating continued for 2 hours, no weapons were found. They were arrested under sections 307 and 436. The arrestees were also beaten heavily in the lock up and the jails and were released after 7 days.

Accounts & Testimonies:
i) Hamida Bano Ibrahim (40 years): Hushand is unemployed, he has had a cataract operation, her son is SSLC failed and is 18 years old.

That night she went to the latrine (which is outside the house) and was returning when the policeman told her to get into the house. She said she
was in fact going to her house when he gave her gaalis and hit her.

One man hit her with a danda so hard that the right hand was fractured in 3 places. The entire night she rubbed ice on it to reduce the swelling. The next day she was taken to the Jamnabai Hospital and later to SSG Hospital by the local corporator Javedbhai. She needed four operations, a steel splint was put in. The operation took one and a half hours. Her three fingers were fractured. Hamida was satisfied with the treatment at the hospital. The police case has been registered in SSG Hospital but no action has been taken in the last two weeks, police has not come around to take any statement.

She wants to tell the Women’s Commission that police have no right to lift a hand on women. They should not be allowed to get away with this. Whatever happened to her, happened. But other women should not suffer this ever. If anyone has erred, they should be punished but without any reason, police should not abuse them.


ii) Zarina (18-19 years): She had delivered hardly one month ago. The police smashed her foot with the butt of the gun and as they smashed the door open, it fell on her back. She has 3 small children. She pleaded with them ‘do not take away my husband’. The police hit her on the back. ‘The door that they broke down fell on my back. They took away my husband after beating him’


iii) Halima Bibi (lives opposite the Mandir): They hit my son-in-law a lot, upturned all the grain containers (atta and rice) in the house, did a lot of nuksaan (damage). They stepped on a 6 month old baby, the baby was crying a lot – put a foot on her to shut her up and said ‘Let them all die’.


iv) Testimony of Naseem Bano of Rafai Mohalla: She is a Social Worker. She arranges for widows’ sahai and loans for poor people.

“That day I tried to stop the police. I tried to tell them that there was no toofan in this area and do not torture the women. If I had not done this, much more would have happened. Afterwards they hit me too and gave very bad gaalis. I told them I would register a case against them. We filed a report at Jamnabai hospital. But no enquiry has been held yet. Yesterday, I was at Bawamanpura. And a kite landed at my feet. It had things written on it like ‘we will burn you, we will burn your houses, your children. We will play Holi Dhuleti with your blood’. We showed this kite to the Commissioner. He responded with ‘This will go on. We have to focus on you people or focus on these people?’ I told him that he should do a full enquiry into this incident. ‘You have to protect us’. If we take kanoon in our own hands we become gunahgaar, if we do not, we die (there is no protection)’. I told him ‘you cannot be ek tarfa’. You catch them and you catch us (do not be selective in whom you catch and arrest). We have to protect ourselves. If they come after us with talwars, we will use stones defend ourselves. You do not protect us’. Commissioner himself says ‘Aap aamne saamne lar lo’.”


v) Testimony of Shabir Khan, Businessman: On March 15, the police came thinking that firing was going on from our house. We were sleeping. The police broke open our door and took us out. The police said unspeakable gaalis and eyed our women with buri nazar. I told the police personnel that we are businessmen, we do not participate in this sort of thing. Twelve policemen came in, 6 on one side and 6 on the other and said that if we lift our hands or cry out, they will hit us again. Obviously, I cried out when I felt the danda on my back. The policemen hit me again. The police took all 3 of us brothers and hit us. They also damaged the furniture in the house.


In the lock up the police said, we will burn you Muslims alive. No food or water was given to us in the lock up. In the lock up I heard them fabricating a case against us – a case of murder, when no murder had taken place. No weapons were found on us. A house hammer was taken away from my home as a weapon. A Police officer looked at my wife, up and down. God forbid, even if he had done something to her, I was in no position to do anything to defend/protect her. I requested him leave at least one of us brothers. He said ‘No, we will burn you all alive’.

In the Central Jail where I was for 7 days, for every 5 Hindus present, there were 25 Muslims. The Hindus in the jail with me were Bhois. One was caught with astra (blade), another with gupti and another with Khanjar. He admitted to me in the jail, ‘we will be released and we will also collect our saadhan from the police station. Hamaara yeh sab chatta hai’. These were his words.

I suspect that the people who came to attack my house, some were police men in plain clothes, others were not. They were from outside. I recognise the police men because I live opposite the DCP Office. There is one Muslim officer in the DCP’s office. I cannot name him. He told me that he was powerless and could not do anything to help the Muslims. I asked that one of us brothers be let out. He said I have nothing in my hands.

Most of all, the women in this area want insaaf. They do not want ek tarfi karyavahi by the police. (Hamida). They do not want Kanani’s staff in the area. They do not want Kanani in the area any more. They also wonder how Narendra Modi continues to be the CM: “removing him is our only chance for survival.”

end of II