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Saluting Zakia Jafri: Remembering the Gujarat Carnage 2002
Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash | 05-Mar-2025
February will always be a painful month for some particularly the Jafri family: on 28 February 2002, Ehsan Jafri, a former Member of Parliament and an authentic and much-loved citizen of secular India was murdered; on 1 February 2025, his wife Zakiaben was called to her eternal reward
In the death of Zakiaben the people of India have lost a great soul! She was a woman of strength and substance. She suffered much since that fateful day, when her dear husband Ehsan Jafri was brutally murdered. Since then, as a victim- survivor, she has fought relentlessly for justice not merely for herself but all women and others - who are victims of an unjust and violent system
The Gujarat Carnage 2002 can easily rate as one of the bloodiest chapters in post-independent India. The burning of the S-6 compartment of the Sabarmati Express (from Faizabad to Ahmedabad) some distance away from the Godhra railway station on 27 February (resulting in the deaths of 59 innocent people) was (and is) strongly condemned ... Several persons were convicted for this act, though there was (and is )still a raging debate on what caused the fire. The sad fact is that any death - particularly the tragic ones – is bound to leave a great void in the lives and the hearts of the loved ones whom they have left behind.
What followed this, was however, a carnage beyond comprehension and totally unjustifiable. Apparently (and this from eye witness accounts), the then Chief Minister of the State convened a meeting of some high level BJP and Government functionaries very late evening of 27 February. What transpired at this meeting has two different versions - but the actions that resulted were blatantly obvious: Muslims all over Gujarat were brutalized, raped, dispossessed of their lands and houses and murdered. The intensity of violence for days on was a crime against humanity. Thousands were affected all over Gujarat! Numbers, pale into insignificance, when one recollects the brutality of what took place. For weeks and then months, rampaging mobs indulged in some of the most despicable acts. Besides, the law and order mechanism had not merely abdicated its responsibility but were also seen actively involved in this carnage.
Zakia’s life became intrinsically linked to the search for justice after the tragic events of 28 February 2002, when a mob attacked the Gulbarg Society, killing 69 people, including her husband. The massacre at Gulbarg Society remains one of the most horrific episodes of the 2002 post-Godhra carnage.A mob of over 15,000 people descended upon the Muslim-majority area, looting homes, setting them ablaze, and killing at least 69 people, including Ehsan Jafri. Despite Ehsan desperate attempts to seek police help, no assistance arrived, despite the proximity of police stations.
On 21 November2002, the Concerned Citizens’ Tribunal consisting of several eminent citizens and headed by Justice V. Krishna Iyer (a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India), made public a report entitled ‘Crime Against Humanity’, on the Gujarat Carnage. This report was written on the basis of more than 2000 oral and written testimonies, both individuals and collective, from victim-survivors and also from independent Human Rights Groups, Women’s Groups, NGOs, academics and others. The Tribunal, in its findings and recommendations, clearly indicts the Government of Gujarat and holds them responsible for the unfettered violence, murder, arson and looting that took place in Gujarat that year.
The findings of the Citizens’ Tribunal also corroborate with the findings of several other fact-findings of independent and impartial groups. These include:
- what took place in Gujarat was not merely communal violence or riots; it was a genocide, a carnage, an ethnic cleansing, designed to wipe out , to marginalise an entire community.
- it was well-planned and well-executed. It was not a “spontaneous reaction” as some people make it out to be. The preparations must have taken several months. Sometime earlier, a widely circulated Gujarati daily listed several hotels run by the Chilya community which had non-Islamic names. During the carnage, most of their hotels were razed to the ground. A meticulous census was conducted on the Muslims and Christians of Gujarat in 1999. The data helped marauding mobs know exactly whom to attack and where.
- it was meant to break the backbone of an economy generated/owned by Muslims;it succeeded to a great extent.
- the middle-class ( including several well-to-do and educated women ) were blatantly involved in the violence; there were very few people who were willing to come out and take a stand to prevent what was happening.
- in some areas, adivasis and dalits were used very effectively in the arson and looting of Muslim homes and establishments.
- it was clearly a State-sponsored genocide. The Citizens’ Tribunal has indicted in addition to the Chief Minister and politicians, several high-ranking bureaucrats and police officials. The SanghParivar was given a free hand to do what they wanted. The police were apparently given clear instructions not to take any action. There is also evidence to show that some were encouraged to join in the violence - which they did, with ruthless finesse. State Ministers and leaders of ‘the Parivar’ were seen leading the mobs. (a couple of them even were in the Police Control room at the time of the violence). (The ‘Tehelka’ sting operation which was made public in October 2007 provides ample evidence to substantiate these facts).
In December 2003, the then Chief Justice of India V.N. Khare presiding over a Divisional Bench of the Supreme Court criticized the Government of Gujarat saying, “I have no faith left in the prosecution and the Gujarat Government. I am not saying Article 356. You have to protect people and punish the guilty. What else is raj dharma? You quit if you cannot prosecute the guilty.” In a landmark ruling on 8 February 2012, the Acting Chief Justice of Gujarat Bhaskar Bhattacharya, very emphatically stated, “Gujarat government’s inadequate response and inaction (to contain the riots) resulted in an anarchic situation which continued unabated for days on…the state cannot shirk from its responsibilities”.
In the context of the many cases and the fact that several fingers were pointing to the connivance of the Modi Government, the Supreme Court of India appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into certain cases, very specially a complaint made by Zakia Jafri with regard to the murder of her husband, the former Member of Parliament Ahsan Jafri and several others. It is common knowledge that the role even played by the SIT was highly questionable. There were speculations and plenty of ‘leakages’, of the final SIT Report. Whatever it says and does not say; lapses and manipulations therein; the complicity and the culpability of the powerful and of vested interests, is beyond doubt.
The pro-Government responses of others are on expected lines: “2002 was just an aberration in fact a distraction”; “look at the way, we have progressed since; the roads, the shopping malls, the riverfront, the flyovers...in fact all the industrialists want to come only to Gujarat”; “didn’t they deserve it, after all, they are but terrorists”; “why is the same importance not being given to the massacre of the Sikhs in 1984 and for that matter, to the Hindu pundits in Kashmir?”; “We Muslims need to move on…” The rationalisations are typical. They come from the educated elite and also from those who are afraid to deal with the past. Statements like these often gripped by fear…Fear seems to rule the roost... the truth is, a sizeable section of the population is terribly afraid of the plain truth. Besides, many suffer from selective amnesia!
One person who fought relentlessly these past many years was Zakia Jafri. She was the voice of many of the victim-survivors . However, on 24 June 2022,the Supreme Court dismissed her plea. Zakiaben had moved a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court of India demanding a thorough probe into the larger conspiracy behind the violence. The SLP, where CJP secretary Teesta Setalvad was the second petitioner, showcased investigative lapses as well as complicity of people in power at the time in allowing the violence to continue unabated. The judgement dismissing her plea rocked the conscience of the nation.
The court observed that, “As a matter of fact, all those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law.”Not surprisingly therefore the above extract was also quoted in a complaint filed on behalf of the State by one Darshansinh B Barad, Police Inspector, Detection of Crime Branch, Ahmedabad City, just a day after the judgment was delivered. In the complaint dated June 25, 2022, Barad asks for an FIR to be registered against Setalvad, former Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) R.B Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt . Teesta and Sreekumar were arrested . after spending a considerable of time in jail were granted bail. Bhatt was already in jail at that time,on another charge. He still continues to be in jail, these past many years. The case on all three – is still not closed chapter.
When Zakia died on 1 February she was with her daughter Nishrin ( aka Nargis) and son-in-law Najid. Both Nishrin and Najid are residents in the United States but have been coming down to India to spend some time with Zakia . Nargis has vivid and powerful memories of her mother. In a voice choked with emotion she says, “that morning my mother was not too well – but we really did not think that it was going to be her last moments; she called out to me ‘Nargis, Nargis’ and then breathed her last” Nargis has fond memories of her mother saying, “my mother was the daughter of a farmer, who married at the age of 21 and made Ahmedabad her home. She adapted very beautifully to her new environment- even choosing to wear a sari happily and proudly as her preferred dress. After 2002, she was convinced that she had to fight for justice; she did so with plenty of personal pain. However she was also able to transcend the killings and violence of 2002, and had no bitterness towards anyone”. Nargis adds for good measure , “my mother came from Rustampur , a village in the Khandwa district of MP. She used to take great pride in saying that her house was opposite Ashok and Kishore Kumar’s house,’ghantaghar ki samnay’!”
Najid remembers the warm and loving treatment he always received from his mother-in-law- from ensuring that non-spicy food was prepared for him to having a fan specially installed for him. “ Her love was for all. She did not speak ill of anyone. In every sense of the word she was a great and wonderful mother.” The same sentiments are shared by Tanveer , her elder son who lives in Surat and Zuber her youngest who lives in the United States.
Zara Chowdhary, author of The Lucky Ones: A Memoir, in a recent interview puts it poignantly saying, “Zakia Jafri was more than a widow seeking justice. She was a mother, a grandmother, a community member. She carried others with her. That reminds me of a story my friend Zehra Mehdi shares about the Shia tradition of demanding justice. Hazrat Zainab, daughter of Hazrat Ali and granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad, survived the massacre of her family. She stood before the tyrant who had slaughtered them and demanded justice—not just for her personal loss, but for her entire community. That distinction is crucial.”
Zara adds, “In marginalised communities, we never carry our burdens alone. Dalit liberation movements embody this as well—you walk with your entire community. Out of hundreds of Gujarat cases, Zakia Jafri’s was the one that insisted: this wasn’t just a personal tragedy; it was an attack on an entire people. That difference—seeing oneself as part of a larger struggle—is what fuels me. I am not writing alone. I am not walking alone. Even the dead are with me. And whatever comes, it comes for all of us”
Zakia was truly a woman of strength and substance; her resilience and her calm demeanour in the face of all odds – easily bear testimony to a woman who can be called ‘Mother India’. Whilst relentlessly pursuing the cause of justice for all, she held no bitterness no rancour, epitomising the best of womanhood and motherhood. Today as we remember the Gujarat Carnage of 2002 – we salute Zakia Jafri – one o India’s greatest women!
(The author is a Jesuit priest, a human rights, reconciliation, and peace activist/writer. He can be reached at cedricprakash@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal.)
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