08, May 2017

The Indian Express
August 27, 2009

2002 Gujarat riots: SIT member meets victims to assess security

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

MEHSANA

A MEMBER of the
Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) met witnesses
of Dipdadarwaja and Sardarpura riot cases of 2002 to assess their
security arrangements, SIT officials said on Wednesday.

“We met the
witnesses of the Sardarpura and Dipdadarwaja riots of Mehsana district
who are now living in Satnagar village near Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha
district. The purpose of visit was to meet witnesses of the two riot
cases and see the progress of the trial in those cases,” SIT member
Paramvir Singh said, adding that he also met the special public
prosecutor for the two cases.

Singh also visited
the scene of offence in Sardarpura village in Vijapur taluka and
Dipdadarwaja area of Visnagar town in Mehsana district.

Communal riots
broke out in different parts of the state following the Godhra train
burning incident. In one such incident in Sardarpura, 33 people were
killed by a mob in March 2002. While in another incident in
Dipdadarwaja, 11 members of the minority community, including five
children, were hacked to death and burnt in their houses during the
post-Godhra riots.

Singh said that
witnesses of both the cases were satisfied with the security
arrangements made by the SIT.

“The witnesses
raised some issues during the interaction.
These are being looked into,”
Singh said, but declined to divulge further details.

According to
police sources accompanying Singh, the witnesses had complained about
the sanitation and other facilities which were lacking in Satnagar.

Mentioning that SIT’s Witness Protection Cell (WPC) for riot cases was
functioning well, Singh said: “We have not received any major
complaints of harassment yet. But whatever complaints we have got are
being looked into.”

The six-member
SIT, headed by former CBI chief R K Raghavan, is probing nine cases,
including the Godhra train burning case. It is also inquiring into a
complaint by a riot victim accusing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi and 62 others for allegedly abetting the 2002 riots.