Fact-finding by a Women's Panel:
Syeda Hameed, Muslim Women's Forum, Delhi
Ruth Manorama, National Alliance of Women, Bangalore
Malini Ghose, Nirantar, Delhi
Sheba George, Sahrwaru, Ahmedabad
Farah Naqvi, Independent Journalist, Delhi
Mari Thekaekara, Accord, Tamil Nadu
Sponsored by Citizen's Initiative, Ahmedabad.
April 16, 2002

Introduction

A six-member team of women from Delhi, Bangalore, Tamil Nadu and Ahmedabad undertook a five-day fact-finding mission from March 27 - March 31, 2002, to assess the impact of the continuing violence on minority women in Gujarat.

Other fact-finding teams have also visited Gujarat post-Godhra. However, given the particular targeting of women in this carnage, there was an urgent need for a sectoral investigation into how women in particular have been affected. The objective of the fact-finding was to determine the nature and extent of the crimes against women; find evidence of the role played by the police and other state institutions in protecting women; determine 'new elements' in the current spate of violence that distinguish it from previous rounds of communal violence in Gujarat; determine the role of organisations like the VHP and Bajrang Dal in both - the build-up to the current carnage as well as in actually unleashing the violence.

The team visited seven relief camps in both rural and urban areas (Ahmedabad, Kheda, Vadodra, Sabarkantha and Panchmahals districts) and spoke to a large number of women survivors. Ensuring that women's voices are heard was a matter of priority for the entire team. The team also spoke to intellectuals, activists, members of the media, administration, and leaders from the BJP, including MLA Maya Kodnani, accused in an FIR in the Naroda Patia massacre. The fact-finding was conducted under conditions of continuing violence and curfew in many parts of the State.

We have been shaken and numbed by the scale and brutality of the violence that is still continuing in Gujarat. Despite reading news reports, we were unprepared for what we saw and heard; for fear in the eyes and anguish in the words of ordinary women whose basic human right to live a life of dignity has been snatched away from them.

Main Findings:
The pattern of violence does not indicate "spontaneous" action. There was pre-planning, organization, and precision in the targeting
There is compelling evidence of sexual violence against women. These crimes against women have been grossly underreported and the exact extent of these crimes - in rural and urban areas - demands further investigation. Among the women surviving in relief camps, are many who have suffered the most bestial forms of sexual violence - including rape, gang rape, mass rape, stripping, insertion of objects into their body, stripping, molestations. A majority of rape victims have been burnt alive.
There is evidence of State and Police complicity in perpetuating crimes against women. No effort was made to protect women. No Mahila Police was deployed. State and Police complicity in these crimes is continuing, as women survivors continue to be denied the right to file FIRs. There is no existing institutional mechanism in Gujarat through which women can seek justice.
The impact on women has been physical, economic and psychological. On all three fronts there is no evidence of State efforts to help them.
The state of the relief camps, as mothers struggle to keep their children alive in the most appalling physical conditions, is indicative of the continued abdication of the State's responsibilities.
Rural women have been affected by communal violence on this scale for the first time. There is a need for further investigation into the role played by particular castes/communities in rural Gujarat in unleashing violence.
There is evidence that the current carnage was preceded by an escalation of tension and build-up by the VHP and the Bajrang Dal.
There is an alarming trend towards ghettoisation of the Muslim community in rural areas for the first time.
Sections of the Gujarati vernacular press played a dangerous and criminal role in promoting the violence, particularly in provoking sexual violence against women.
More...InfoChange India site.

Placed on The Communication Initiative site May 9 2002.