Myth 4: The Gujarat police turned a blind eye to the rioting
Posted on May 22, 2008 - Filed Under 12-Concocted Lies and Myths by the media |
Fact: Even though the situation was terrible, the police performed its work extremely efficiently. The police force was woefully insufficient. Uday Mahurkar reports for India Today (18 March 2002):
“Ahmedabad has a police force of 6,000, including 1,500 armed personnel. In addition, the entire state has just four companies (530 jawans) of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) of which only one company could be spared for Ahmedabad. Considering that the mobs that simultaneously surfaced at nearly half a dozen places numbered from 2,000 to 10,000, the forces proved woefully inadequate. At one point on February 28 there were at least 25,000 people targeting the Muslim localities in Ahmedabad alone.”
Despite this, the police fired more than 4,000 rounds in the first three days alone. As many as 98 people were shot dead by the police, majority of whom are Hindus. For the complete period of rioting, despite the presence of the Army, the police fired as many 15,000 tear gas shells, and a total of 10,500 rounds. Out of the total people killed in the riots, about 20 % have been shot dead by the police.
Infact- the encyclopaedia wikipedia reports-based on sound sources-that as many as 200 policemen laid their lives trying to quell the violence during the riots.
Out of the 25,486 accused, the Gujarat police arrested as many as 25,204 people. This clearly shows the efficiency of the Gujarat police. On March 1st and 2nd and afterwards, Muslims too rioted and they too were killed in police firing.
The Gujarat police saved as many as 2,500 Muslims in Sanjeli, a town in North Gujarat, 5,000 Muslims in Bodeli, in Vadodara and about 10,000 Muslims in Viramgam. A total of about 24,000 Muslims were saved in the first three days alone. Police officials themselves suffered injuries in trying to save the Muslims, as reported by the weekly India Today.
The steps taken to control the violence were-
1-The Indian Express dated 28th February 2002 reported that the State Government had deployed the Rapid Action Force in Ahmedabad and other sensitive areas and the Centre sent in CRPF personnel-on February 27 itself even before a single riot had taken place.
2- The Hindu reported in its issue dated 28th February 2002 that “Shoot-at-sight” orders had been given in Godhra on February 27 itself.
3-The Hindustan Times reported in its issue dated 28 February 2002 that the entire police force of 70,000 was deployed in Gujarat on 27 February itself-after the shocking massacre in Godhra-in view of apprehensions that riots might break out.
4-827 preventive arrests were made on the evening of February 27 itself-on Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s orders-on his return to Ahmedabad from Godhra.
5-On February 28 -despite the deployment of the entire police force, the CRPF personnel and the Rapid Action Force-the situation seeped out of control-according to The Hindu dated 1st March 2002.
6-Despite the fact that the situation seeped out of control-the mob sizes were unpreceedented-and the police were overwhelmingly outnumbered-the police did its best. The police fired more than 1,000 rounds on the first day of the riots-i.e. February 28.
7-The Hindu reported in its issue dated 1st March 2002-that atleast 10 persons were believed to have been killed in police firing in Ahmedabad alone by evening of February 28. 5 Hindus were shot dead outside Ehsan Jafri’s house on Feb 28-according to India Today weekly-dated 18 March 2002.
8-Curfew was clapmed in Godhra on 27 February itself-as reported by The Hindu dated 28 February 2002.
9-An indefinite curfew was clamped in 26 cities and towns in the State, including parts of Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda, Rajkot, Nadiad, Anand and Kaira on February 28 in addition to the indefinite curfew in force in Godhra since February 27-according to The Hindu dated 1st March 2002.
10- The Chief Minsiter, Narendra Modi, frantically called the Army units to Ahmedabad on February 28-as reported by the The Hindu dated 1st March 2002.
11-The Indian Express and The Hindu both reported that Army units started arriving in Ahmedabad on the night of February 28-in their issues the next day-i.e. 1st March 2002. This shows that the Army units reached Ahmedabad so quickly-that the newspapers had the time to report their arrival on February 28 itself itself and publish it on 1st March!
12-The Army staged a flag march in Ahmedabad on 1st March 2002 at 11:30 AM-as reported by weekly India Today in its issue dated 18th March 2002. The Hindu and The Indian Express and all major dailies also reported that the Army staged flag marches in Ahmedabad-and also Vadodara on 1st March 2002.
13-The Army began flag marches in the worst-affected areas of Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot and Godhra cities and the `shoot at sight’ order was extended to all 34 curfew-bound cities and towns in Gujarat on 1st March 2002-as per The Hindu dated 2nd March 2002.
14-The Gujarat police fired a total of 4,000 rounds in the first three days alone. This-despite the presence of the Army.
15-The Gujarat police shot dead 98 people in the first three days-majority of whom are Hindus.
16-The Hindu reported in its issue dated 4th March 2002-that only 2 deaths were reported on 3rd March in the entire state-and the violence has ended on 3rd March 2002. Thus-the Gujarat government managed to control the situation in 3 days-even after the shocking massacre in Godhra-while it took previous Congress governemnts 6 months to stop the riots in 1969 and 1985-even without any cause as Godhra.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:47 pm
The police turned a blind eye yesterday, some day someone will sure turn a blind eye on them. Jiski laathi uski bhains. kal ko Hindustan chotey chotey states mein batwara hoga. Sikh in Punjab, Kannadigas in Karnataka, Marathas in Maharashtra, Orissans in Orissa and so and so forth. Kalkoi aur ayega aur baazi maar ley jayega. Jaisey Jaichandra ney kiya tha, waisey hi kal ko ga. History repeats. Tab lado k doosrey sey. Duniy to yahi dekehygi ki key state ka Hindu doosrey state key hindu sey ladh raha hai, aur wo bhi kiskey liye, language key liye. Main Gujju, tu Maratha(ghati),malabari and Madrasi. Milzhulkar raho aur desh ko agey badhao. Hindu Muslim Sikh aur Isai saath saath jiyo. Kahey ko aaj minorities key naak mein dam kar rahey ho, kalko aisa nah ho ki ey sab tum logon sey tang aakar kuch kar na baithey,
September 8th, 2008 at 2:46 am
Yes at first IT was anti BJP but later on it became pro Bjp ..this is a fact I know from the biased articles from that mag.
I am not saying that the guj police didnt help save some guj Muslims but majorly they were siding with the Hindu mobs or looking the other way when the Hindu mobs attacked Muslims and this is a fact. It is also a fact the Muslims attacked Hindus in some areas.
Well as for my mental bankruptcy, I leave it to the judgement of the netizens of this world…let them decide whether if its me or you. bye for ever…
September 7th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Naveen, India today is a staunch BJP supporting publication? Ha ha haha-get your facts right. India Today is one of the most bitter critics of Narendra Modi-and ever after the riots-it has called the Gujarat riots as a massacre of Muslims. It called Narendra Modi an ‘Untouchable’. Just because this biased anti-BJP magazine reported that police saved thousands of Muslims-you call it a ’staunch BJP supporting magazine’. This shows your bias too. And besides-you can go in Sanjeli town in Gujarat and ask the Muslims there what happened on 1st March 2002. You can read Gujarati dailies to know that police saved thousands of Muslims in Sanjeli, Bodeli and Viramgam. Calling India Today as pro-BJP-with Arun Purie as Editor-the man who launched severe attacks on BJP for the Ramjanmabhoomi movement-and on L K Advani-reveals your mental bankruptcy.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:02 am
U r quoting from a report in India today to prove ur line of thought. Dont u know India today is a staunch BJP supporting publication just like Outlook is a staunch Congress supporter? Get links from neutral sources to prove what ur views.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
http://www.india-today.com/itoday/20020422/states.shtml
Read this link. It proves that the police saved thousands of Muslims from certain death in Sanjeli, Bodeli and Viramgam.
July 27th, 2008 at 4:35 am
You are the biggest lier- Mr “Your mom”. What source do you have to deny that the police saved thousands of Muslims?
July 27th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Liar.