18.06.2007 - Source: BBC News

Court convicts 14 Hindus of killing Muslims during bloody religious riots nearly 20 years ago ("Hindus 'guilty of Muslim deaths'") [ID 20902]

Document(s): Open document

04.06.2007 - Source: BBC News

Kashmir: The Indian army drops plans to renovate Muslim shrines and mosques after a row with clerics ("Army U-turn on Kashmir holy sites") [ID 20981]

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Discrimination against Muslims in some Hindu-dominated areas ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19781]

"Muslims in some Hindu-dominated areas continued to experience intimidation and reported a lack of government protection, resulting in their inability to work, reside, or send their children to schools. In some areas, primarily in Gujarat, Hindutva, groups displayed signs stating "Hindus only" and "Muslim-free area." Hindutva is the ideology that espouses politicized inculcation of Hindu religious and cultural norms above other religious norms. There were also allegations of prohibitions on the Muslim call to prayer.  "

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Muslims still in "precarious conditions" in camps in Gujarat ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19782]

"In October, according to the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), 5,307 Muslim families still lived in "precarious conditions" in 46 makeshift camps across Gujarat following the violence in 2002."

Document(s): Open document

27.12.2006 - Source: BBC News

Prime minister says more must be done to combat discrimination against lower castes and minorities ("Lower castes 'need greater help'") [ID 18751]

Document(s): Open document

05.09.2006 - Source: BBC News

Rajasthan state: No charges against hardline Hindu leader Praveen Togadia who was arrested in April 2003 accused of inciting religious hatred against Muslims; human rights and Muslim groups protest ("No charges against Hindu leader") [ID 17462]

Document(s): Open document

23.05.2006 - Source: Amnesty International

Annual Report 2006 ("Annual Report 2006") [ID 15845]

"The personal law of specific communities became a political issue after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board confirmed Muslim clerics’ fatwa concerning the marriage of Imrana Ilahi. Imrana Ilahi alleged rape by her father-in-law in June in Muzzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh; the Board subsequently annulled her marriage and pressed for her rape allegation to be re-framed as a charge of adultery. Imrana Ilahi and her husband defied the directive but the local village council continued to put pressure on them to withdraw their charge of rape. A petition seeking to prevent the establishment of a parallel Muslim judicial system and binding fatwas issued by Muslim clerics or organizations was pending in the Supreme Court at the end of the year."

Document(s): Open document

04.05.2006 - Source: Human Rights Watch

End Communal Violence in Gujarat, Kashmir ("End Communal Violence in Gujarat, Kashmir") [ID 15657]

Document(s): Dokument

14.04.2006 - Source: BBC News

Neun Tote bei einer Explosion in einer Moschee in Delhi ("Nine hurt in Delhi mosque blast") [#49418],  [ID 15445]

Document(s): Open document

05.04.2006 - Source: Guardian

Muslims are seen as lowest social class; they make up 14.7 percent of the population but only comprise a fraction of the workforce in many areas ("Muslim India struggles to escape the past") [#48285],  [ID 6483]

Document(s): Open document

04.03.2006 - Source: BBC News

Uttar Pradesh: 4 deaths after clashes between Muslims, which protested against President Bush`s visit and tried to force Hindu traders to close their shops, and Hindus, who objected the Muslim demand ("Extra police deployed in Lucknow") [#45776],  [ID 6484]

Document(s): Open document

03.02.2006 - Source: Guardian

Muslim women should not work with men or go shopping in areas where they could mix with strangers of the opposite sex, according to an edict for social reforms issued by the influential All India Muslim Personal Law Board ("Don't work with men, Muslim clerics tell Indian women") [#43394],  [ID 6485]

Document(s): Open document

07.11.2005 - Source: Guardian

Uttar Pradesh: 3 people killed when group of Hindus attacked Muslim village of Mehndipur; attack was prompted by rumours that villagers killed cows for feast to mark end of holy month of Ramadan ("Three killed as Hindus attack Muslim village") [#38609],  [ID 6486]

Document(s): Open document

08.2005 - Source: Freedom House

Annual survey of political rights and civil liberties 2004 ("Freedom in the World 2005") [#41316],  [ID 6487]

"[...]Tension between different ethnic groups over land, jobs, or resources occasionally flares into violent confrontation, and sporadic Hindu-Muslim violence remains a concern. Other forms of discrimination against Muslims are sometimes excused in the context of ongoing tensions with Pakistan as well as the global campaign against terrorism. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

21.02.2005 - Source: BBC News

Uttar Pradesh: Lucknow: 3 people killed and several injured when Shia and Sunni Muslims clashed at a Shia mourning procession in Husainabad area; following the clashes, government imposed a curfew ("Curfew imposed after India riot") [#29134],  [ID 6488]

Document(s): Open document

18.01.2005 - Source:

Background information on Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) [ID 6490]

"[...]The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), proscribed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA), is an Islamist fundamentalist organization, which advocates the ‘liberation of India’ by converting it to an Islamic land. The SIMI, an organisation of young extremist students has declared Jehad against India, the aim of which is to establish Dar-ul-Islam (land of Islam) by either forcefully converting everyone to Islam or by violence. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

18.01.2005 - Source:

Background information on Deendar Anjuman (DA) [ID 6491]

"[...]Hazrat Moulana Deendar Channabasaveshwara Siddiqui formed the currently proscribed Deendar Anjuman (DA) sect in 1924 in Bellampet in the Gulbarga district of Karnataka state. For more than seven decades, the sect functioned in a low-key manner without any publicity. The activities of this Sufi sect, which preaches that Islam is a mixture of local cultures, religions and traditions came into prominence in the aftermath of 13 bomb explosions at various places of worship across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Karnataka between May and July 2000. Syed Zia-ul-Hassan, Anjuman founder Deendar Channabasaveshwara Siddiqui's son, is alleged to have masterminded these blasts. He is reported to have migrated to Pakistan after Partition and is now the DA's spiritual head. Hassan, who is reportedly based in Peshawar, is also alleged to have floated a terrorist outfit named the Jamaat-e-Hizbul Mujahideen in Pakistan. The DA’s headquarters is located in Hyderabad, where they have their own colony, including a mosque and a madrassa. The present Chief of the sect is one Sayyid Imam, who presides over a team of approximately 100 muballighs or missionaries.[...]"

Document(s): Open document

13.01.2005 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Annual report on human rights situation in 2004 ("World report 2005") [#28211],  [ID 6489]

"[...]The Gujarat government’s failure to bring to justice those responsible for massive communitarian riots in the state, in which thousands of Muslims were killed and left homeless, continues to be a source of tension throughout the entire country. However, the Supreme Court and the National Human Rights Commission have taken several positive steps to secure justice for the victims of the riots. [...]
The Indian Supreme Court has already ordered two Gujarat cases to be retried in another state. The criminal justice system in Gujarat, the Supreme Court concluded, had been “abused, misused and mutilated by subterfuge.” Human rights activists and lawyers have petitioned for fresh investigations and trials in a number of cases where it was felt that the local courts, prosecutors and police were hostile to Muslim complainants. Despite these positive developments, rights activists in Gujarat continue to be harassed on the basis of what police claim are their “anti-national activities.” Witnesses, however, remain vulnerable to threats. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

14.12.2004 - Source:

Background information on Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen [ID 6492]

"[...]The TuM aims to merge the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with Pakistan and also promote a pan-Islamist identity. The protection of Asidih community, a small faction of Sunni Muslims, was a prime motivating factor for the outfit in its early days.[...]"

Document(s): Open document

13.12.2004 - Source:

Background information on Jaish-e-Mohammad Mujahideen E-Tanzeem [ID 6493]

"[...]The Jaish-e-Mohammed is part of the Islamist terror network with its base in Pakistan and active in the terrorist violence in J&K. The outfit, like other terrorist outfits in J&K, claims to using violence to force a withdrawal of Indian security forces from J&K. The outfit claims that each of its offices in Pakistan would serve as schools of jihad. Delivering speeches at various cities and towns in Pakistan after his release, Masood Azhar threatened that the outfit would eliminate Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who he termed as 'Abu Jahl’ (Father of Ignorance). In its fight against India, he added that the outfit would not only "liberate" Kashmir, but also would take control of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Amritsar and Delhi.[...]"

Document(s): Open document

13.12.2004 - Source:

Background information on Lashkar-e-Jabbar [ID 6494]

Document(s): Open document

12.12.2004 - Source:

Background information on Hizb-ul-Mujahideen [ID 6495]

"Of the terrorist outfits currently operating in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) is the one of the largest, with a cadre base drawn from indigenous and foreign sources. It is one of the most important terrorist outfits in terms of its effectiveness in perpetrating violence across the State at regular intervals. The HM is one of the 32 outfits proscribed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

12.12.2004 - Source:

Background information on Lashkar-e-Omar (The Army of Omar) [ID 6496]

"[...]Their version of Islam is akin to that of the Taliban militia of Afghanistan. The LeO’s ideological underpinning is a mixture of Islamist fundamentalism and totalitarian thinking. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

12.12.2004 - Source:

Background information on Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam (MULTA) [ID 6497]

"[...]Reportedly, MULTA, as is allegedly the case with the other Islamist terrorist outfits in the State, seeks to mobilise the Muslim youth in Assam to 'fight' for the 'cause' of Muslims. Reports have also indicated that the outfit has as its objective the waging of jehad against India, to eventually set up a 'greater independent Islamistan' for the Muslims of Assam. MULTA cadres, in fact, reports suggest, are attempting to emulate the terrorist outfits operating in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, and claiming that they are waging jehad against the Indian state. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

04.10.2004 - Source: BBC News

Gujarat: witnesses in murder trial allegedly intimidated by police and right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party ("Gujarat riot murder retrial opens") [#26039],  [ID 6498]

Document(s): Open document

10.2004 - Source: UK Home Office

Muslims - additional information ("Country Report - October 2004") [#28325],  [ID 6499]

"[...]6.55 BBC news reported on 17 August 2004, that India’s Supreme Court ordered Gujarati police to review and re-open 2,000 closed cases relating to Hindu – Muslim rioting of 2002. The BBC reported that, “In its order, the Supreme Court called for the establishment of a cell headed by a senior police official to look into the circumstances in which the cases were closed.“ Witnesses to the rioting have reported that they were threatened and forced to withdraw statements made to the police. Around 4,000 cases were registered, but two years on no one has been convicted, and around half of the cases have been closed. [32em]
[...]
6.59 According to BBC news dated 27 August 2004, at least 19 people were reported wounded after attackers threw explosives into mosques as Friday prayers were held. There were two bomb blasts, one in the town of Jalna and the other in the nearby town of Parbhani. Both towns are about 500km from Mumbai (Bombay). [32k]
[...]"

Document(s): Open document

31.08.2004 - Source: BBC News

Gujarat: members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prevented Indian police from carrying out their duties during religious riots in 2002 ("Policeman accuses Gujarat BJP") [#25255],  [ID 6500]

Document(s): Open document

27.08.2004 - Source: BBC News

Maharashtra: at least 19 people injured in bomb blasts at mosques in Jalna and Parbhani ("'Bomb blasts' at Indian mosques") [#25248],  [ID 6501]

Document(s): Open document

19.08.2004 - Source: BBC News

Kashmir: 4 members of a Muslim family killed by separatist militants/ in another incident, a senior militant leader has been killed ("Five killed in Kashmir violence") [#24859],  [ID 6503]

Document(s): Open document

04.08.2004 - Source: BBC News

Muslim women activists demand a ban on what is known as "triple talaq" or instant divorce ("Muslim women fight instant divorce") [#24517],  [ID 6504]

Document(s): Open document

26.05.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Annual Report 2004 (covering 2003) ("Annual Report 2004") [#22668],  [ID 6502]

"Heightened tensions in Gujarat

Following widespread communal violence in the state of Gujarat in February and March 2002, the state continued to witness sporadic incidents of communal violence. More than 2,000 people had been killed in early 2002 in the wave of violence targeting the Muslim community. These killings followed an attack on a train in Godhra in February 2002 in which 59 Hindus were killed by a mob. Reports implicated police officers and members of Hindu nationalist groups, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the ruling BJP in the violence against Muslims.

There was increasing concern about the failure of the state government of Gujarat to ensure that those responsible for widespread communal violence in early 2002 were brought to justice. In many cases, attempts to hold the perpetrators accountable were hampered by the highly defective manner in which police recorded complaints. Victims complained that police failed to register complaints, or recorded details in such a way as to lead to lesser charges, omitted the names of prominent people who were pivotal in the attacks, and did not take appropriate action to arrest suspects, particularly where they were supporters of the BJP. Reports indicated that out of 4,252 complaints filed by individuals regarding the communal violence, 2,032 were closed even though the alleged abuses were found to have occurred. One of the reasons given by the police for closing the cases was that they were unable to identify the individual perpetrators.

Concerns about the impartiality of institutions in the state and the government’s commitment to ensure justice for the victims of communal violence were brought to the fore in June when 21 people accused of the murder of 14 people burned to death in the Best Bakery in Baroda on 1 March 2002 were acquitted. Following the acquittal, key witnesses indicated that they lied in court because they had been threatened with death unless they did so. Following a public outcry, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) carried out an investigation and subsequently filed a petition in the Supreme Court. The petition asked the court to provide protection to witnesses, to ensure a retrial of the case in a court outside Gujarat state, and to order the transfer of other ongoing key cases to courts outside Gujarat to ensure fair proceedings. During the proceedings the Supreme Court severely criticized the state government of Gujarat for failing to provide justice to victims of the communal violence and pointed to the possible collusion between the state government and the prosecution in subverting the cause of justice. Following the criticism, the Gujarat government amended its original appeal, this time seeking a retrial of the Best Bakery case. This was dismissed by the Gujarat High Court in December.

Following the investigation into the killing on 26 March of Haren Pandya, the former Home Minister of Gujarat, police reported that they had unearthed a series of conspiracies to target Hindus and prominent officials held responsible for the communal violence. From March onwards, scores of Muslims were reported to have been illegally detained in Gayakwad Haveli Police Station in Ahmedabad by Crime Branch police, reinforcing concerns about the break-down in the rule of law in relation to the Muslim minority in the state. Many of those formally arrested were charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Police routinely resorted to arbitrary and incommunicado detention, denied detainees access to lawyers and medical attention, and used torture or ill-treatment to extract confessions. There were concerns that patterns of illegal detention may have been replicated in other areas of the state following a statement by a senior police officer which endorsed such actions. The widespread use of incommunicado detention by police against members of the Muslim minority in Ahmedabad is reported to have intimidated members of the Muslim community who were too scared to make official complaints.

Following comments in which the Chief Minister alleged that foreign-funded “five star activists” were maligning Gujarat and attacking India’s democratic system for the sake of their vested interests, there were reports that a committee had been set up to monitor the activities of those foreign funded non-governmental organizations which were active in the reconstruction of the state after the January 2000 earthquake."

Document(s): Open document
Open document

24.05.2004 - Source: US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

Annual report on conditions affecting refugees and asylum seekers in 2003 ("World Refugee Survey 2004") [#22816],  [ID 6505]

"At least 650,000 persons were internally displaced in India. Among the displaced were 250,000-450,000 Kashmiris, an estimated 250,000 members of tribal groups in northeast India, an unknown number of persons, mostly Muslims, in Gujarat State in western India. The government impedes international access to internally displaced persons, and labels them migrants. [...]

In January the government announced that it planned to expel an alleged 20 million illegal Bangladeshis, who Bangladeshi officials claim are Indian Muslims, and who India claims are Bangladesh’s citizens. In February India attempted to forcibly deport several hundred individuals but Bangladeshi troops on heightened alert prevented the deportation. During the year Indian border guards shot at an unknown number Bangladeshis claiming they were illegally entering India. [...]

In 2003, sporadic violence and looting continued in Gujarat. Dominant castes and non-Muslims seized Muslim land following the 2002 riots.

The federal and state governments provided inadequate protection, assistance, and compensation to the displaced, most Muslims. Individuals released on bail from charges arising from the 2002 riots pressured displaced people to withdraw cases against them, threatening to use force to prevent them from returning to their homes. No estimates were available of the persons remaining displaced at the end of 2003."

Document(s): Open document

19.04.2004 - Source: BBC News

Gujarat: 20 people charged over the alleged gang rape and murder of Muslims in an incident during 2002's Gujarat riots ("Twenty charged over Gujarat riots") [#21550],  [ID 6508]

Document(s): Open document

12.04.2004 - Source: BBC News

Gujarat: Supreme Court has ordered a retrial of the Gujarat riot case ("Fresh trial for Gujarat riot case") [#21309],  [ID 6509]

Document(s): Open document

04.2004 - Source: UK Home Office

Muslims ("Country Report - April 2004") [#22427],  [ID 6506]

"6.38 A 1997 report of the Special Rapporteur states that Muslims constitute India's largest minority as well as the second largest Muslim community in the world after Indonesia, and before that of Pakistan. [6b](p7)
6.39 The Special Rapporteur’s 1997 report noted that the Indian authorities do not restrict the religious activities of Muslims. Muslims have freedom of religious practice and freedom to organise their services according to their codes, religious teachings and customs. [6b](p7)
6.40 The Special Rapporteur noted that Muslims in India have their own educational establishments, including the madrasa religious schools responsible for disseminating the teachings of Islam. Muslims possess a large number of places of worship as well as the Waqf Board, which is responsible for the management of property belonging to religious communities and charitable institutions. [6b](p8) According to the United Nations Background Paper 1998, Muslims are reportedly under-represented in the civil service, the military and institutions of higher education. [6e](p20)
6.41 The United Nations Background Paper 1998 states that Jammu and Kashmir is the only State in India where Muslims are in the majority. [6e](p7) The 1997 report of the Special Rapporteur notes that here, the religious situation is seriously affected by the armed conflict between the Indian army and the militant extremists. Several mosques have been destroyed in India, including the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6 December 1992 and the Charar-e-Sharief sanctuary in Jammu and Kashmir on 11 May 1995. The UN Rapporteur stated that according to official and non-governmental observers, the destruction of the Babri Masjid was an aberration which could not be interpreted as evidence of an official policy of religious intolerance directed against Muslims. [6b](p9)
6.42 Keesings Record of World Events notes the BJP and its allies had called repeatedly for the mosque at Ayodhya (built in the 16th century by the Mughal emperor Babar) to be replaced by a temple honouring the Hindu deity, Lord Ram. [5a](p1) According to Europa world year book in 1990 the then BJP leader, Lal Krishna Advani, led a procession of Hindu devotees to the town to begin construction of a Hindu temple. Paramilitary troops were sent to Ayodhya and thousands of Hindu activists were arrested in an attempt to prevent a Muslim-Hindu confrontation. However following repeated clashes between police and crowds, Hindu extremists stormed and slightly damaged the mosque and laid siege to it for several days. [1a]
6.43 Keesings Record of World Events note that on 6 December 1992 around 100,000 Hindu kar sevaks (construction volunteers) responded to a call by the BJP and other Hindu organisations, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) - World Hindu Council - to resume construction work on the temple at Ayodhya. A small mob of Hindu zealots stormed past guards and razed the mosque to the ground. Within hours of the mosque's destruction, Ayodhya was gripped by fighting between Hindus and Muslims. By the following day there were reports of numerous deaths and arson attacks on Hindu and Muslim shrines across India despite strict security arrangements in most States. The worst affected cities were Bhopal, Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Jaipur, Kanpur and Surat. Southern States were also affected. [5a]
6.44 The Indian Government strongly condemned the desecration and demolition of the holy building and pledged to re-build it. The leaders of the BJP, including L.K. Advani and the party's President, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, and the leaders of the VHP were arrested, the BJP Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh resigned, the State legislature was dissolved and Uttar Pradesh was placed under President's Rule. On 8 December 1992 the security forces took full control of Ayodhya, including the disputed complex, meeting with little resistance. [1a]
6.45 As cited in an unstarred question to the Rajya Sabha, a few days later the Government banned five communal organisations, 3 Hindu and 2 Muslim, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 [27], on the grounds that they promoted disharmony among different religious communities. [1a] As cited in an unstarred question to the Rajya Sabha the banned organisations were: VHP, RSS, Bajrang Dal, Islamic Sevak Sengh (ISS) and Jamaat-I-Islami Hind. [27] The ban on these groups has since been lifted, as cited in the statement in reply to the Lok Sabha unstarred question. [28]
6.46 As reported by Reuters in 1997, it was not until September 1997 that a court indicted 49 people on criminal charges over the demolition of the mosque. Among them were Lal Krishna Advani, then BJP President; Murli Manohar Joshi, former BJP President: and Bal Thackeray, the leader of Shiv Sena. The charges included rioting, creating hatred between two religious communities, defiling a place of worship and causing grievous hurt by threatening and damaging the life and safety of others. The BJP leaders claimed they were innocent and that the party was not responsible for destroying the mosque.[8c] According to a BBC news article dated 19 September 2003, in September 2003 a court in India ruled that Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani would not be tried in relation to the 1992 destruction of the mosque at Ayodhya. However the court recommended that seven other leading Hindus should be charged with inciting Hindu mobs to destroy the Babri mosque.[32bl]
6.47 As cited in correspondence from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1992, various parts of India have suffered inter-communal violence between Hindus and Muslims. In the State of Gujarat, such violence pre-dates Indian independence. The antagonism has also been exacerbated by non-religious considerations. [7a]
6.48 Reuters reported in 1999 that at the end of December 1998, 5 people were killed and 50 wounded in Karnataka, and 3 were killed in religious clashes in Amod in Gujarat. [8e] CNN reported in June 2000, a bomb had exploded in a mosque in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, wounding two people and prompting mob attacks that injured five others. [33d] According to a BBC report on 11 July 2000 10 people died in Malpura, Rajasthan after clashes between Hindu and Muslim groups. The riots were sparked by the fatal stabbing of a Hindu man who was facing charges relating to several killings that occurred in Malpura after the destruction of the Ayodhya mosque. [32q]
6.49 Keesings Record of World Events, February 2002 reported that on 27 February 2002, a campaign of sectarian violence was triggered in Godhra, Gujarat by an attack on a train carrying Hindu activists. At least 58 passengers were burnt to death and 43 injured, the fatalities including 26 women and 14 children. The Hindus were returning from a visit to the disputed religious shrine at Ayodhya. News of the massacre sparked a number of retaliatory attacks by Hindus the same day, swelling the following day to a India April 2004 wave of violence in towns and cities across the State. In the [State] capital, Ahmedabad, crowds looted and burned Muslim-owned shops, hotels, restaurants, and petrol stations. In one incident, 38 Muslims were said to have burnt to death when a mob isolated and burnt down six bungalows. [5j] Keesings Reported in 2002 that by 12 March 2002, mob attacks and arson had claimed an estimated 700 lives, most of them Muslim. [5k]
6.50 In Keesing’s news digest for April 2002 they reported that during April 2002, the sporadic violence spread through Gujarat State to Kutch in the west, which had been previously untouched. An estimated 100,000 Muslims were in relief camps having been driven from their homes. [5l]
6.51 The US State Department Report 2003 notes that ”In its final report on Gujarat, released in June 2002, the NHRC held the Gujarat Government responsible for the riots and accused it of "a complicity that was tacit if not explicit." The report concluded that "there is no doubt, in the opinion of this Commission, that there was a comprehensive failure on the part of the State Government to control the persistent violation of rights of life, liberty, equality, and dignity of the people of the State." The report recommended a CBI inquiry into the communal riots, which the State Government subsequently refused to allow. [2c] (p20) The BBC reported on 19 February 2003 that by February 2003, almost 80 people had been arrested for their involvement in the Godhra attack. The Gujarat authorities indicated that they intended to charge most of those arrested under the POTA. [32ao]
6.52 According to a BBC news report of 12 September 2003, India’s Supreme Court launched a scathing attack on the authorities in the state of Gujarat over their handling of a riot in 2002 in which 12 Muslims were burned to death in a bakery by a Hindu mob (now known as the Best Bakery case). Twenty-one Hindus were acquitted of killing the Muslims in a controversial ruling in June 2002 after many of the prosecution witnesses withdrew their evidence. The incident came during rioting in Gujarat in which more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims were killed.[32bm] A BBC news report for 19 September 2003 reported that Gujarat’s State Government later agreed to seek a retrial of the 21 Hindus acquitted following criticism from the Supreme Court.[32bn]
6.53 BBC news reported on 22 January 2004, Federal police arrested 12 people on charges or murder and gang rape during the 2002 Gujarat riots. They face charges in connection with an attack on a Muslim group by a Hindu mob in March 2002.[32cs] BBC reported on 12 February 2002 that India’s Central Bureau of Investigation submitted a report to the Supreme Court on an alleged gang rape and murder of Muslims during the 2002 Gujarat riots. It is alleged that 3 women were raped and fourteen Muslims killed in the incident. The CBI was asked to follow up the case as a result of India’s National Human Rights Commission’s support of a key eyewitness. Thirteen people have been arrested by the CBI including a policeman for allegedly tampering with evidence. The case is due before the Supreme Court with more than 10 Gujarat riot cases currently before the Supreme Court.[32ct]
6.54 The BBC reported on 27 September 2002 that on 24 September 2002, two gunmen attacked the Swaminarayan Temple in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. A total of 31 people were killed in the attack. The two gunmen who carried it out were also killed. Hundreds of Muslims in Gujarat again took temporary refuge in camps or in Muslim- majority areas, after officials announced that the temple attackers were Islamic radicals. [32aj]
6.55 The BBC reported on 17 April 2003 that a Muslim woman had been elected as the mayor of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, becoming the first Muslim mayor of Ahmedabad. [32au]
6.56 According to BBC news dated 21 November 2003, at least 26 people were wounded when unknown attackers threw an explosive devise into a mosque in Prabhani,(250 miles east of Mumbai). [32cu]"

Document(s): Open document

04.2004 - Source: UK Home Office

Muslim personal status law ("Country Report - April 2004") [#22427],  [ID 6507]

"5.17 According to the US Department of State report 2003 (published 2004) “Muslim personal status law governs many non-criminal matters involving Muslims, including family law, inheritance, and divorce. The Government does not interfere in the personal status laws of the minority communities, including those that discriminate against women.”[2c](p13)"

Document(s): Open document

26.02.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Gujarat: The Godhra and post-Godhra violence in Gujarat two years ago remains unpunished ("India: Gujarat -- Denial of Justice for Victims") [#19800],  [ID 6510]

Document(s): Open document

25.02.2004 - Source: US Department of State

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003 ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003") [#19765],  [ID 6511]

"[...]Muslim personal status law governs many noncriminal matters involving Muslims, including family law, inheritance, and divorce. The Government does not interfere in the personal status laws of the minority communities, including those that discriminate against women. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

22.01.2004 - Source: BBC News

Federal police have arrested 12 people on charges of murder and gang rape during the 2002 Gujarat riots ("Arrests over Gujarat riots case") [#18931],  [ID 6512]

Document(s): Open document

21.01.2004 - Source: BBC News

Demonstrators in Calcutta burnt effigies of the Bangladeshi writer, Taslima Nasreen, whose new book they allege has insulted Islam ("Effigies of writer burned") [#18925],  [ID 6513]

Document(s): Open document

08.12.2003 - Source: BBC News

Andhra Pradesh: India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has called a strike in the city of Hyderabad to protest at the deaths of five people in Hindu-Muslim clashes/ police have imposed a curfew in eight areas of the city ("Hyderabad deaths spur strike call") [#18114],  [ID 6514]

Document(s): Open document

04.12.2003 - Source: BBC News

Andhra Pradesh: 1 man killed and 5 injured after a group of Sikhs attacked Muslim-owned properties in Hyderabad's Kishan Bagh district ("Man killed in Muslim-Sikh clashes") [#18004],  [ID 6515]

Document(s): Open document

25.11.2003 - Source: BBC News

Gujarat: 12 Hindus have been given life prison sentences for killing Muslims in religious riots last year ("Life in prison for Gujarat guilty") [#17875],  [ID 6516]

Document(s): Open document

06.11.2003 - Source: Amnesty International

Report presenting well-founded reports of the use of arbitrary and illegal detention by Crime Branch police in Ahmedabad in the past year ("India: Abuse of the law in Gujarat: Muslims detained illegally in Ahmedabad") [#17350],  [ID 6517]

"[...] This document presents well-founded reports of the use of arbitrary and illegal detention by Crime Branch police in Ahmedabad in the past year. Evidence is also presented of the torture and ill-treatment of detainees. These human rights violations are being carried out in the context of a large number of arrests of individuals suspected of involvement in a range of alleged conspiracies against the state(1). These alleged conspiracies include the killing of 59 Hindus in Godhra in February 2002 (which sparked communal violence resulting in the deaths of over 2,000 Muslims in the following three months) and subsequent acts of violence which are alleged to have been planned and carried out in retaliation for the killing of Muslims (further information is provided in Section II of this report).

All those formally arrested and charged in relation to these conspiracies are Muslims and almost all have been charged under provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA).(2) Many of these spent periods of time in illegal detention prior to their "formal" arrest. Others reportedly continue to be held indefinitely in illegal detention.

This report focuses on the abuse of arrest and detention procedures in relation to these arrests. It reinforces concerns about the breakdown of the rule of law in relation to the Muslim minority in the state and the increase in human rights violations facilitated by the use of POTA. (3) Amnesty International is also aware of significant concerns about procedures for fair trial raised by advocates acting for some of those detained under POTA. [...]

Amnesty International has received information that scores of Muslim men have been illegally detained for questioning in connection with the killing of former Home Minister Haren Pandya (see above). Amnesty International was told by a local lawyer that between the end of March and the beginning of May 2003, up to 380 people had been called by police for interrogation. Arrests have continued after May and are reported to be still continuing. The men are not formally arrested and no records are kept of their detention and interrogation by police. In some cases, this "interrogation" is reported to last for two weeks, while in other cases it lasts one or two days. Some detainees have been allowed to see their families during this period and in other cases relatives have been able to provide food for the young men but not been permitted to see them. Most detainees are reported to have been held at the Gayakwad Haveli Police Station in Ahmedabad, the headquarters of the Crime Branch. At the end of September 2003, Amnesty International received unconfirmed reports that between 25 and 80 individuals were illegally detained at this police station.

There are unconfirmed reports of routine beating during interrogation at Gayakwad Haveli Police Station. Following interrogation for several days or sometimes weeks, some arrests have been formalised, with the date of arrest shown in relevant documents as this later date, and with the period of interrogation not formally acknowledged. The arrests of around half of the 380 people reportedly arrested between the end of March and the beginning of May are reported to have been formalised in this way.

Most family members appear to be too scared to make representations to the authorities about illegal detention. However, in a rare show of public anger, members of the Muslim community in various parts of Ahmedabad observed a bandh [shut-down] on 2 September in protest at the arbitrary arrest and illegal detention of Muslims. This was sparked by the arrest of five men, including two clerics, in connection with the attack on the Akshardam Temple in September 2002.(10) The wife of one of the suspects publicly claimed that her husband had been detained on 9 August, not on 25 August as police claimed, and that she had visited him on four occasions in Crime Branch custody during his period in illegal detention. She was reported as saying: "The police told us that my husband had been picked up for interrogation and that we should not talk to anybody or hire a lawyer or they would inflict charges on him which would keep him behind bars for more than 20 years."(11) [...]"

Document(s): Open document
Open document

17.10.2003 - Source: BBC News

Gujarat: Tens of thousands of Hindu activists, trying to stage a rally in the northern holy town of Ayodhya, arrested ("Police clash with Hindu hardliners") [#16877],  [ID 6518]

Document(s): Open document

06.10.2003 - Source: BBC News

The families of people killed during an attack in India's Gujarat state last year accused right-wing Hindu political parties of interfering in the conduct of the inquiry, by pressing relatives to give only limited statements and demanded that the inquiry into the killings be moved out of the state ("Gujarat relatives demand outside probe") [#16515],  [ID 6519]

Document(s): Open document

05.09.2003 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Gujarat: 3 activists harassed and intimidated for their efforts to protect witnesses to last year's massacres ("India: Protect Gujarat Activists Now") [#15807],  [ID 6520]

Document(s): Open document

27.02.2003 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Gujarat: Impunity: one year after the beginning of communal violence that claimed over 2,000 lives, there have been no convictions of those responsible ("India: Carnage in Gujarat Unpunished: Communal Violence Continues") [#11057],  [ID 6521]

Document(s): Open document

14.01.2003 - Source: UN Human Rights Council (formerly UN Commission on Human Rights)

Report focused on violence against women (its causes and consequences) ("Integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective: The violence against women [E/CN.4/2003/75/Add.2]") [#11278],  [ID 6522]

Document(s): Open document

26.09.2002 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Gujarat: attack at the Swaminarayan Hindu temple in Gandhinagar reported/ at least 30 people killed ("India: Keep Peace in Gujarat") [#8708],  [ID 6523]

Document(s): Open document

08.2002 - Source: European Reintegration Networking

Background information on India (including procedures for entrance, supply and care, health, education, work opportunies,...) ("Background information on India (including procedures for entrance, supply and care, health, education, work opportunies,...)") [#28646],  [ID 6524]

"[...]Die größte religiöse Minderheit ist der Islam, dem 11 bis 12 % der Bevölkerung angehören. Somit stellen die 101,5 Mio. indischen Moslems eine der weltweit vier umfangreichsten muslimischen Gruppen neben Indonesien, Pakistan und Bangladesh dar. Die meisten Muslime leben in den Staaten Uttar Pradesh (24 Mio.), Westbengalen (16 Mio.) und Bihar (12 Mio.). Die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung bilden sie in Jammu und Kaschmir (65 %) und im Unionsterritorium Lakshadweep (94 %).

Die überwiegende Mehrheit der Muslime in Indien, nämlich 90 %, sind Sunniten. Diese erkennen keine Kalifen als Religionsführer an, sondern religiöse Gelehrte (ulamas), die den Koran kennen und interpretieren. Unter den Shiiten wiederum stellt die Untergruppe der Ismaeiliten die Mehrheit dar. Diese sind vor allem in Gujarat und Maharasthra angesiedelt. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

05.03.2002 - Source: Amnesty International

Gujarat: At least 242 people killed in the city of Ahmedabad since communal violence and rioting between Hindus and Muslims broke out ("India - EXTRA 19/02") [#5857],  [ID 6525]

Document(s): Open document

01.03.2002 - Source: Amnesty International

Gujarat: Reports of widespread communal riots in which nearly 250 people, a large number of whom appear to be unarmed civilians, were reportedly killed ("India: Equal protection to all citizens must be ensured in Gujarat") [#5722],  [ID 6526]

Document(s): Open document

02.2001 - Source: Forum 18

Freedom of religion: report on general legal framework, registration requirements, civil and penal restrictions and religious freedom in practice ("Freedom of religion: A report with special emphasis on the right to choose religion and registration systems") [#8587],  [ID 6527]

Document(s): Open document